Ringtone Charged With Assaulting 5 Foreigners During Karen Home Raid
The six suspects were charged that on July 21, 2023, at Bomas of Kenya Muiru Gardens with Langata Sub-county, they assaulted five South Sudanese foreigners.
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Controversial gospel singer, Alex Apoko, popularly known as Ringtone, was on Tuesday, July 25 charged before the Kibera Law Courts with assaulting five foreigners during an alleged invasion at a Karen residence in Nairobi.
Appearing before Kibera Chief Magistrate, the musician together with Samson Onunga alias Kazola, Victor B Maringa, Kevin Nyaoke, Brian Jumba Luseno and Geoffrey Mose were also charged with damaging property worth Ksh5,000.
The six suspects were charged that on July 21, 2023, at Bomas of Kenya Muiru Gardens with Langata Sub-county, they assaulted five South Sudanese foreigners.
They included Kongkong Paulino Matip, Gabriel Paulino, Stephen Gatwech, John Paulino and Chuang Emmanuel who were assaulted when Ringtone showed up with about 15 goons at the palatial property, occasioning them bodily harm.
Singer Alex Apoko, alias Ringtone in court on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. /K24 DIGITAL
In the second count, the six were charged that at the same time and place, they jointly and unlawfully damaged the chairs valued at Ksh5,000 belonging to Kongkong's family.
The six suspects however denied the several charges of assault and malicious damage to property levelled against them by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
They sought to be released on bail, assuring that they will abide by all conditions set by the court. They were eventually freed on a Ksh50,000 cash bail and a surety of the same amount each.
The prosecution of the Fagia hitmaker and his co-accused came after they were presented in court following the incident that occurred at the South Sudanese nationals' home on Friday, July 21, which led to Ringtone's arrest.
Speaking to Viral Tea at the time, Matip had revealed that he had inherited the palatial home following the death of their father in 2012.
The family, he added, had to return to South Sudan for their father's burial and had taken them some time before they returned to Nairobi where they settled.
"We were also unfortunately saddened by the crisis of the civil war in our country in 2013. We were still living there and I left my brother there in early 2014, but around mid-2014 one of our brothers evacuated my little brothers, claiming that he wanted to rent the house.
"Since then they vandalised the house. Our cars disappeared," he explained.
In 2016, Matip and his family were locked out of accessing the house, a matter which prompted him to file a report, which did not bear fruits, forcing him to return to South Sudan.
"That is when I heard that Alex Apoko had gained access to the house. I reported it to our embassy," he added.
The Fagia hitmaker was thereafter found by the South Sudanese family having gained access to the house alongside some tenants on Thursday, July 20, which hampered their chances of getting in.
"We filed a report with Lang'ata Police Station last week and he was summoned. He never showed up...We got access to the house," Matip lamented.
The South Sudanese national further claimed that Ringtone did not possess any title deed to the land as well as documentation showing proof of ownership to the house and chaotic scenes ensued on Friday, July 21 when he showed up with about 15 goons after they took back their house and dismantled their property.
Luckily, the original owners who were however injured had called the police who came and picked him up to take him to Lang'ata police station
It was not yet established what prompted Ringtone and his co-accused to assault the foreigners at the residence by the time of publishing this article.
Musician Ringtone in a police car following his arrest in Karen on July 21, 2023. /COURTESY
