Two clergymen were arraigned at the Kibera Law Courts to face robbery with violence charges after allegedly robbing their “landlord”.
Benson Muiruri Mucheru of House of Encounter Chapel and Joseph Zacharia Iyadi of African Transformers Youth Association reportedly robbed Geoffrey Ngatia Njoroge following a dispute over rent.
They are said to have committed the crime after finding out that Mr Ngatia leased them a parcel of land that allegedly did not belong to him for a year. The ‘men of God’ discovered they had been paying rent to the wrong person after they were served with a notice for rent arrears of 12 months by an organisation that claimed ownership of the property.
The pastors allegedly robbed Ngatia of the money and a wristwatch valued at Sh25,000 inside his home in Karen, Nairobi on March 2, 2018.
The court heard that the clergymen committed the robbery jointly with others not before the court and threatened to use violence against Ngatia.
The incident happened inside Ngatia’s compound, which he shares with the two pastors’ churches based on the lease.
The complainant had been dropped home by a friend at around 11 pm when the pastors and their associates confronted him as he arrived.
They took him inside his house and a commotion ensued during which Ngatia claimed to have been robbed of the cash that had been collected during a fundraiser at a hotel in Nairobi CBD.
Appearing before senior resident magistrate Charles Mwaniki, the clerics denied committing the capital offence.
They were freed on a Sh600,000 bond each with a surety of a similar amount.
The case will be mentioned on January 11.
