The charges include conspiracy to commit a felony and abduction with intent to confine.
A man has been charged with raping and causing actual bodily harm to a Mombasa-based blogger, John Bruce Kajira, bringing the total number of suspects arrested in connection with the case to five.
Arraigned at the Shanzu court on Tuesday, November 12, Omar Ali Mohammed was charged with four offences related to the incident which has attracted public interest since being reported on September 13, 2024.
The charges include conspiracy to commit a felony and abduction with intent to confine. The prosecution told the court the suspect conspired with four other individuals to abduct the blogger.
Furthermore, the court heard that the suspect assaulted the blogger with kicks and fists, causing him actual bodily harm.
Signboard of Shanzu Law Courts. /THE JUDICIARY
However, Omar denied all charges before Shanzu Senior Resident Magistrate Robert Mbogo. The suspect who was arrested at Lunga Lunga along the Kenya/Tanzania border, has been remanded at Shimo La Tewa prison until November 15, pending bail application.
His arraignment comes six weeks after four people were charged with abduction and sodomy of the blogger in the same court. The four, namely Abdul Athman, Violet Adera, Esther Muthoni and Haji Babu denied the charges.
The 24-year-old was allegedly abducted on September 12 by a group of about 20 county officers from his home in Bamburi. Beforehand, Bruce recorded a TikTok Video criticizing Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir both in his personal life and his leadership style as well before the ordeal.
The group reportedly assaulted and sodomised him before leaving him at a dump site. He revealed they forced him to apologise for criticising the Mombasa County government.
The youth abducted him under the guise of being taken to apologise to the governor, but they would never make it to see him. Bruce was tortured and gang-raped with the entire ordeal captured on camera with a threat to release the footage if he was ever to speak on it.
Governor Nassir and Mombasa Lands County Executive Committee (CEC) for Lands and Urban Planning Mohamed Hussein were roped into investigations on the brazen act, but they both denied involvement.
The governor held a press briefing at his office on Monday, September 30 after the release of Hussein, claiming that political motives are behind the allegations linking him to the gang rape, mentioning that both his and his mother’s homes were attacked twice before the blogger’s abduction and gang rape.
