Former Kenya Sevens rugby player Alex Olaba at Milimani Law Court in Nairobi on May 4, 2021.
Former Kenya Sevens rugby player, Alex Olaba, has suffered a major blow after the High Court dismissed his appeal seeking to quash a six-year jail term sentence handed to him for attempting to kill a key witness in a gang-rape case against him and a former teammate.
On Thursday, while upholding the conviction and sentence imposed on Olaba, Justice Margaret Muigai said the trial magistrate properly applied the law and handed down a deserving verdict.
Ex-rugby player Alex Olaba appearing before a Milimani Court on May 4, 2021.
The judge ruled that the conviction was properly founded, noting that the conspiracy to commit murder was proven through recorded conversations and a down payment of Sh10,000 to the would-be killers of the witness.
Besides the down payment, the recorded conversation proved there was a promise to pay Sh100,000 upon completion of the execution mission.
“I found from the evidence that two prosecution witnesses met and discussed the commission of the offence, which had been previously discussed with the appellant. A police officer disguised as a hitman spilled the beans by letting the cat out of the bag,” the judge noted
She further stated that the trial court had duly considered Olaba’s submissions and mitigation before arriving at the verdict.
"The sentence in all counts shall to run concurrently is fair,” the court ruled.
Former rugby player Alex Olaba makes a call when he appeared before a Milimani court on May 3, 2021. The prosecution has applied for Olaba's bail to be cancelled after he allegedly threatened the key witness in a rape case. The prosecution says he should be remanded at Industrial Area remand until the conclusion of the trial.
Olaba was convicted for the offences of threatening to kill the key witness and conspiracy to defeat justice.
On October 1, 2025, a magistrate directed the prison authorities to escort Olaba, a serving prisoner, to the hospital for treatment pending retrial of the gang rape case against him and another on February 9, 2026.
Milimani Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Rose Ndombi gave the order for Olaba’s treatment when the case in which he is charged alongside another former rugby player, Frank Wanyama, was mentioned for direction.
Olaba is serving a six-year jail term for threatening to kill a key witness in the rape case.
When the case came up for a hearing date to be fixed, a defence lawyer informed the magistrate that Olaba is unwell and requires urgent treatment.
Ex-rugby player Alex Olaba arrives at the Milimani Court on May 4, 2021.
The prosecution did not raise any objection to the treatment plea by Olaba
Both Olaba and Wanyama had been convicted and sentenced to serve a 15-year jail term for gang raping a woman identified as K.A., but High Court Judge Grace Kariuki quashed the sentence and set aside the conviction on appeal and ordered a retrial before a different magistrate.
Justice Kariuki, now a judge of the Court of Appeal, quashed the conviction and sentence on June 30, 2020.
Before the retrial began, Olaba threatened to kill the key witness and was subsequently jailed for six years and another two years for defeating justice.
In his appeal, Olaba was urging the High Court to find his appeal had merit, given that the complainant, K.A., was never called to testify against him in court.
“The magistrate erred in law and fact in admitting and relying on a generic victim impact assessment statement, adduced as evidence yet the alleged interviewed victim KA was not part of the proceedings in the subordinate court,” the convict said in his appeal testimony.
Rugby player Alex Olaba before the Milimani Law Courts on April 23, 2021.
Olaba claimed he was wholly aggrieved and dissatisfied by the conviction and the sentence imposed by Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on May 24, 2023.
The magistrate convicted Olaba for the offence of threatening to kill a key witness in the rape case against him and conspiracy to defeat justice.
In the appeal, Olaba had faulted the magistrate for misapplying the law while convicting him.
“The trial magistrate erred in law and fact by failing to consider that the alleged victim K.A neither recorded a victim statement nor was she called as a witness before the trial court,” Olaba stated in the petition of appeal.
The convict had also faulted the trial magistrate for failing to consider that no specific evidence was adduced in regard to the nature, time, manner and place that the alleged victim would be killed.
Olaba prayed that the appellate court fault the trial magistrate for erring in law by ignoring and failing to weigh sufficiently the weighty issues raised in his defence statement.
He had also faulted the court for not judiciously appreciating the inconsistencies and contradictory evidence of the prosecution witnesses
Olaba further faulted the magistrate for not considering numerous untruths that were told by the prosecution witnesses.
He had further claimed the witnesses were cunning, unreliable, evasive, forgetful and contradictory on material aspects.
Olaba and Wanyama are charged with gang raping K.A. in February 2018.
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