Five suspects charged over Mandera quarry attacks

Abubakar Salim Kitonga, Maslah Daud Hassan, Musa Daud Hassan, Shukri Abdi Salat and Philip Ochieng Omondi appeared before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Enock Cherono and denied the charges.
They allegedly committed the act on December 2, 2014 at Koromy Quarry in Mandera County.
The court heard that the accused jointly with others, who were not before the court, carried out a terrorism act, which resulted into death of 36 people.
Kitonga was again charged with being in possession of a terrorism article contrary to the law.
He was accused that on January 28, 2015 at Mandera County, he was found in possession of a Nokia Mobile phone, a sim card and a micro SD memory card, which had an article for use in terrorism acts.
Three of the accused, who are Somali nationals, faced a separate charge of being in Kenya illegally.
Two of them were also charged with being in possession of materials, including a mobile phone, which they used in instigating the commission of the terrorism act.
Prosecutor Daniel Karuri made an application that the accused be denied bail on grounds that the offense committed is of serious in nature.
“The offense committed is of extremely serious nature and the accused are likely to be sentenced upon conviction,” said Karuri.
Their Lawyer Mbugua Mureithi told the court that the prosecution needs to explain why some of the accused have been detained for a long period. The court will rule on their bail application Thursday after the prosecution objected to their release, saying they are a flight risk.
Source: standardmedia.co.ke