Hawker charged with raping housemate’s friend

A Nairobi hawker accused of raping his housemate’s friend and injuring a police officer as he resisted arrest has denied the charges at the Makadara law courts.

Ben Marita Mokema is accused of raping a woman, SM, on July 18 inside a house he shares with his roommate in Fuata Nyayo slums in South B, Nairobi.

Following a report on the rape made by SM at the Mariguini police post, Corporal Stephen Njoka, and police constables Olivia Chonde and Lilian Nyamboke went to arrest Mr Mokema at his house and he resisted arrest, injuring one of the officers.

According to documents, SM had earlier contacted Mr Mokema seeking to speak to his roommate because she wanted to pick an item he had borrowed from her, but the roommate had already left the house.

Mr Mokema then informed her that the item was still in the house and told her she could go and pick it. They agreed on where to meet as SM did not know the directions to the house, and they went to the house together.

According to SM, on arrival, Mr Mokema locked the house using a padlock, threatened her with a knife, and then raped her.

SM told the police that she screamed for help but Mr Mokema was playing loud music in the house that could have prevented neighbours from hearing her screams.

She said Mr Mokema raped her twice before he locked her inside the house and went away. He, however, returned later and raped her a third time.

Mr Mokema’s housemate later returned in the company of a woman and found the complainant in the house, and Mr Mokema claimed that SM was his girlfriend.

Both men went outside leaving the two women in the house and SM informed the other woman what had happened.

The woman gave SM her phone to contact her husband, but Mr Mokema returned to the house before she could call her husband.

The other woman later left the house with Mr Mokema’s housemate, leaving SM alone with the suspect.

SM later escaped and met her relatives who took her to the police post to report the incident, before proceeding to hospital.

Police officers went to arrest Mr Mokema the same day but, according to the report, he became violent, caused a commotion and injured one of them, as neighbours joined in and helped the officers to subdue him.

Prosecution counsel Cosmas Kyambia urged the court to detain Mr Mokema at the Industrial Area police station where he is wanted for another offence.

Mr Mokema denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia who granted him a bond of Sh100, 000.

The case will be mentioned on July 31, while the trial date has been set for January 17 next year.