I attempted to escape because I panicked – mastermind of Forest Road assault case tells court

By , K24 Digital
On Tue, 15 Mar, 2022 19:07 | 2 mins read
Zachariah Nyaore Obadiah arraigned before Milimani Law Court. PHOTO/COURTESY

Zachariah Nyaore Obadiah, the mastermind of the Forest Raod woman assault case was on Tuesday, March 15 arraigned in court a day after getting arrested at the Kenya-Tanzania border while attempting to escape from the country.

Appearing before the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Obadiah who pleaded not guilty to the crimes, told the court that he was not on the run to escape arrest but because he panicked.

"Your honour I was carrying a client through the road where the incident happened and after a while, my photo was all over the media, I had to run away," Obadiah told magistrate R.K Ondieki.

Obadiah was arrested on Monday, March 14 within the Isebania border while trying to cross over to Tanzania and was escorted to Nairobi and booked at Gigiri police station on the same day at around 2220hrs. He was later arraigned at Milimani law courts where the investigators wants him to be charged with robbery with violence and sexual assault.

His plea came at a time when the prosecution team sought to detain him for ten more days as they continue with investigation into his case.

The prosecution also requested the court for more time to allow them to carry out forensic analysis on the suspect's mobile phone at the Cybercrime Unit and also arrest other suspects who are still at large.

"I need time to interrogate the suspect, time to request for call data from service providers so that we can trace the movements of the suspect and obtain and retrieve CCTV footages from Barabara Tano for forensic analysis at DCI headquarters imaging and photographic department," Lyvonne Mwanzia, an investigative officer attached to Gigiri police station told the court.

Despite his plea, the court declined to free Obadiah and therefore opted to detain him for ten more days to allow the authorities to finish their investigations.