A Nairobi bar manager and a bouncer are facing kidnapping charges after they locked two revellers in a storeroom at a popular Thika Road club over unpaid bills.
Henry Philip Omondi, the manager of Embassy Bitro Club, and James Angulu, a security guard, are accused of secretly and unlawfully confining Fredrick Kioko and Kevin Oira at the club, located at Roasters, on June 24.
The suspects are also charged with wilfully obstructing a police officer contrary to Section 254 (b) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The duo are accused of preventing police officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) offices in Kasarani from rescuing the two complainants.
Omondi and Angulu are also charged with causing a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace, contrary to Section 95 (1) (b) of the Penal Code.
The prosecution has accused the suspects of banging on the bonnet of a DCI vehicle and snatching the car keys from one of the police officers who was driving the car.
The two complainants had gone to meet their friend at the club in the early hours of the morning and found him drinking with a woman and two men.
After a short time, their friend excused himself to escort the woman to the car outside because she was too drunk, and the other two men also left, leaving the two complainants alone at the table, where they continued to drink beer ordered by their friend, who left with a woman.
They later discovered that their friend had left with the woman without paying and they were asked to pay the bill of almost Sh10,000 which they refused before being locked up in the club's store.
They called their friends who reported the matter to the police control room and the matter was escalated to the Kasarani DCI offices and three officers on night patrol including went to the club to rescue Kioko and Oira.
The detectives freed the two complainants and ordered them into their car to take them to the police station, but Omondi and Angulu, together with other workers at the club, allegedly prevented the officers from leaving with Kioko and Oira before they paid.
The two suspects allegedly banged on the bonnet of the car before snatching the keys from the driver.
They denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Gerald Mutiso of the Makadara Law Courts.
They were released on Sh50,000 bail with a surety in like sum and an alternative cash bail of Sh20,000. The cases will be listed for pre-trial hearings on 1 August.
