A Nairobi court has acquitted controversial businessman Chris Obure of the charges of failing to secure a firearm and allowing the same to be used by his bodyguard who is not authorized to allegedly shoot dead a city car dealer Kelvin Omwenga.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi on Tuesday, November 15 freed Obure saying that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the two criminal charges against him.
However, magistrate Ochoi ruled that Obure's personal assistant Robert Ouko has a case to answer after the prosecution successfully pinned him to the crime scene at the Senteu Plaza where the firearm in question was used to murder Kevin Omwenga on August 21, 2020.
The prosecution called eight witnesses to prove their case against the duo.
The court concurred with Obure submissions that there was no consistency with the prosecution witnesses' testimony linking him to the offences and urged the court to acquit him.
"After evaluating the evidence and facts in this case, l find that the prosecution has not established a prima facie case against the first accused person(Obure). I, therefore, acquit him all counts under section 210 of Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)," Magistrate Ochoi said.
"I also find that the Prosecution had provided their case against the second accused person (Ouko) beyond a reasonable doubt. This court finds him to have a case to answer and accordingly places him on his defence. "
The court directed the case against Ouko to be mentioned on November 22 to enable him to inform the court on how he will tender his defence.
In the case, Obure who is a licensed firearm holder had been accused that on August 20 at Senteu Plaza he allowed his firearm to be used by Ouko to commit murder.
Ouko on his part is charged with being in possession of a firearm and ammunition which was used to commit murder without a firearm certificate.
The offence is said to have been committed on August 2 at Colana Suites, House along Colana road in the Kilimani area, Nairobi.
However, Obure is not off the hook since he is also facing murder charges at the High Court. The duo are charged with murdering Omwenga
