Video footage, a distinctive tooth and intelligence gathering have led to the arrest of two robbery with violence suspects. But that investigative work could now go down the drain as police search for complainants.
On October 15, a foreign national was walking on a pedestrian walkway in Parklands at around 2.30pm when three men attacked him. They pinned the victim, who police believe is a Chinese national, to the ground before violently robbing him.
After taking some items from the victim’s pockets, the three men fled. The victim picked up a stone and attempted to give chase but gave up almost immediately.
A screengrab from a video footage showing three men fleeing the scene after robbing a foreigner.
Photo credit: Pool
CCTV cameras from a nearby building captured the incident. At the same time, a man in a nearby building was sitting on his balcony recording the robbery on his mobile phone.
Three hours later, another man was attacked at the same place, and the incident was also captured on CCTV. Police are yet to identify the second victim.
After reviewing the CCTV footage, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers noticed that one of the suspects had a prominent discoloured tooth.
The DCI Gigiri office and the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau then activated their informants, leading to the arrest of the suspect with distinctive features and an alleged accomplice on October 20. Detectives are searching for the third suspect.
Police first arrested Obed Makori Kamaga along the Northern Bypass on following intelligence that he was planning other robberies in that area.
“During the incident (arrest), the suspect dropped a firearm, which was recovered by police and secured as an exhibit,” the DCI said in a statement after the arrest.
The second suspect, Emmanuel Akolo, alias Murife, was arrested the following day.
“The latest arrest marks a further breakthrough in the ongoing investigations, following the earlier arrest of another suspect in connection with the robbery. With two suspects now in custody, detectives are closing in on the remaining accomplice, who is still at large,” the DCI said after Akolo’s arrest.
A court has now granted police seven days to hold the two suspects and conclude investigations into the two robbery incidents.
Investigators now hope that they can trace the two victims before the seven days lapse, so that they can file complaints and witness statements which would help in prosecuting the suspects in custody.
The absence of complainants could jeopardise the DCI’s plan to have a strong case. In such criminal cases, the complainants are the primary witnesses who testify to whether they were robbed, how and when it happened, and what was stolen from them.
They also testify to what form of violence, or threat to it, was used, if any.
While the law and courts allow for suspects to be prosecuted even without a complainant testifying, the lack of such primary witnesses makes the task of proving the charges beyond reasonable doubt significantly harder for prosecutors.
An investigator familiar with the investigation said that Kamaga and Akolo will be charged, regardless of whether complainants come forward and record statements with the police.
