Former Kenya7s star Alex Olaba sentenced to six years' imprisonment

Alex Olaba (L) and Frank Wanyama(R) Getty

RUGBY Former Kenya7s star Alex Olaba sentenced to six years' imprisonment

Mark Kinyanjui 11:23 - 24.05.2023

The former Strathmore Leos and Kenya Halequin player has been charged with attempted murder after attempting to hatch a plot to kill a key witness.

Former Kenya 7s player Alex Olaba has been sentenced to six years in jail for attempting to hatch a plot to kill a witness in the ongoing gang rape case he is involved in alongside fellow teammate Frank Wanyama.

The sentences will run concurrently, meaning that he will serve for six years.

City court Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo in his sentencing on Wednesday said he had considered Olaba's mitigation and a probation report tabled in court.

"Having gone through the evidence in this case, I find the accused guilty of the offence," the magistrate ruled.

In his sentencing, the magistrate noted that the accused vowed never to repeat a similar offence in the future.

"Although the accused person is remorseful the offences he faces are serious. l convict and sentence him to serve six years in count one of conspiracy to kill and two years imprisonment in the second account of interference with judicial process. The sentences will run concurrently," the magistrate said.

"After evaluating the evidence on record, l find the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the accused. I, therefore, convict him accordingly," the trial magistrate stated in his judgment. 

The investigating officer George Otieno told the court that the 27-year-old made several attempts both directly and indirectly to contact a state witness in the gang rape case.

When efforts proved futile, he resorted to attempting the plot to eliminate the said witness.

Alex Olaba was arrested in Madaraka, Nairobi in April last year by undercover detectives on the night he was plotting the attempt to kill the witness.

Olaba had approached another party seeking ways to eliminate the witness in the case before police were informed. According to the prosecution, the approached party was an undercover officer. 

The first count states that the former rugby star conspired to kill the unnamed witness having colluded with other said assailants. 

The second one states that Olaba interfered with the trial process in the gang rape matter, by attempting to cause the death of the key witness.

Earlier on this month, the Court of Appeal had suspended the prosecution of  Wanyama and Olaba over sexual assault pending determination of their case that concerns admissibility of the complainant’s evidence as she testified without taking oath in court. 

They had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each by a magistrate court after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in February 2018.

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