5 Face Death Penalty For Robbing Petrol Station During Azimio Protests
They were accused of robbing Nura Wario, the station manager, of items valued at Ksh53,500 while threatening him with violence.
Marvin Chege 
Five men who were among a gang of more than 20 violent protesters who robbed a petrol station along Juja Road in Nairobi on the morning of Tuesday, May 2 during the Azimio la Umoja protests were charged with robbery with violence.
The five, Alfred Obura, Allan Obonyo, Vincent Onyango, Michael Ooko and Edward Kasee, who were armed with metal bars, were on Friday, May 12 accused of stealing 12 gas cylinders and an office chair.
They were accused of robbing Nura Wario, the station manager, of items valued at Ksh53,500 while threatening him with violence.
The five were also charged with malicious damage to property after they allegedly damaged glass windows and three fuel pumps worth Ksh452,000. Their alleged accomplice, Charles Wambua, who had been released on Ksh10,000 cash bail by a Makadara magistrate's court, had escaped before he was due to enter his plea.
The five, Alfred Obura, Allan Obonyo, Vincent Onyango, Michael Ooko and Edward Kasee, are accused of stealing 12 gas cylinders and an office chair. /DAILY NATION
Robbery with violence carries the death penalty under Kenyan law.
The prosecution revealed that Wario, the fuel station manager, was in his office while other employees were at work when a group of about 100 people, who were taking part in the demonstrations led by Azimio leader, Raila Odinga, as well as robbing pedestrians, attacked the station armed with stones and metal bars.
The group had allegedly stolen the 12 gas cylinders, each weighing 6 kilogrammes and smashed the windscreens of several cars parked at the station.
The incident was captured via a video seen by Viral Tea whereby the gang surrounded the petrol station located next to Moi Air Force Base and vandalised the equipment, with police officers nowhere to be seen in the vicinity.
Wario cut the power to the station to prevent the thugs from siphoning off fuel before reporting the matter to the Mathare and Huruma police stations after the thugs had left.
Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) offices in Starehe visited the scene and reviewed the CCTV footage at the fuel station and identified the six as part of the group that carried out the robbery.
The sleuths were later tipped off by members of the public about the whereabouts of some of the people who robbed the station and arrested the six suspects and took them to Ruaraka Police Station.
The five suspects were remanded in custody after the DCI obtained orders to detain them pending investigations. On Thursday, May 11, they denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia of Makadara Law Courts, who released each of them on Ksh400,000 bail with no option for cash bail.
The case will be mentioned on July 3, 2023, before it comes up for trial on October 9, 2023. Kyambia cancelled the Ksh10,000 paid by Wambua and issued a warrant of arrest against him.
The incident happened on the same day a public service vehicle was torched along Ngong' Road which was also blamed on violent protesters.
On May 1, during Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi, President William Ruto declared that he would not allow violent demonstrators to destroy property.
Below is the video of the petrol station robbery:
![How Gor Mahia Beat Murang'a Seals Despite Second Half Scare [PHOTOS]](https://viraltea.co.ke/uploads/images/202405/image_140x98_663793954bc76.jpg){kind=small}
