Court orders Bondo police boss to surrender equipment seized from journalists

The Officer Commanding Bondo Police Station Abdikadir Yusuf was on Tuesday ordered to surrender in court several items he confiscated from two journalists.

The Bondo OCS appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon following a summon after he was accused of assaulting two journalists and confiscating their equipment when they went to cover an exercise where police officers were arresting a shylock in Bondo town on Monday.

Bondo Principal Magistrate Obiero ordered the items on Wednesday morning after the two journalists — Brian Ondeng’ of the Kenya News Agency (KNA) and Geoffrey Oguma of Radio Namlolwe — recounted to the court how they were assaulted before being arrested and bundled into police cells where they spent the night.

The said items include mobile phones, wallets, recorders, notebooks, Media Council Accreditation Cards and other personal belongings.

The two journalists had been arraigned in court and charged with obstructing police from discharging their duties during the incident when the officers had gone to arrest the shylock who has allegedly been operating in Bondo town illegally.

When he appeared before the court on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Yusuf stated that the confiscated items were in safe custody of the police and that the journalists were free to collect them.

The journalists were released on a Ksh.10,000 cash bail each or an alternative bond of Ksh.20,000 pending hearing of the case on January 22 next year after denying the obstruction charges.

They, however, requested that the items be brought to them through the court as they feared for their safety if they dared go back to the police station.