KENYA COMPUTERS STOLEN http://www.the-star.co.ke/local/rift-valley/69323-thieves-steal-computers-at-kapsabet-law-courts

Thieves steal computers at Kapsabet law courts

FRIDAY, 30 MARCH 2012 23:59 BY BARRY SALIL

PROBE: Nandi North DCIO Samson Thoya and Kapsabet OCS Obadiah Mac Oduor at the Kapsabet Law Courts yesterday. Photo/Barry Salil.

BUSINESS at the Kapsabet law courts was paralysed for most part of yesterday as police investigated theft of computers and documents at the premises. Thieves are reported to have broken into the courts' registry in the wee hours of yesterday morning and stole an unspecified number of documents and three computers with vital information. The thieves broke into the courts' premises that are under a 24-hour guard by regular and Administration Police officers by cutting a barbed wire and a chain link at its fence that is adjacent to the busy Eldoret-Kisumu Highway.

The Nandi North district criminal investigation officer Solomon Thoya accompanied by the Kapsabet police station boss Obadiah Mac Oduor said primary investigations had revealed two computer was stolen from the registry and one from the senior resident magistrate's chambers. ''Files containing sensitive information may also have been stolen,'' they said.

Interestingly, the police officers were reported to have left the compound in the morning after returning their firearms without detecting the burglary although the registry’s door was wide open. “The matter was reported by a court clerk who arrived in the morning only to find the doors of his place of work at the court registry wide open and two computers missing,” said Thoya.

It is suspected that the burglars got a key to the SRM's chambers from a bunch that is normally kept in a locker at the registry. Thoya said: “The suspects then dropped the lone key at the door of the chambers… and left undetected by any of the police officers. Interesting!” Principal magistrate Beatrice Mosiria and senior resident magistrate Richard Koech, who were posted to the station a couple of weeks ago, were shocked over the burglary when they reported for work yesterday morning.

The computers are said to have information on the previous and ongoing cases at the courts. The police officers would be grilled to explain the circumstances under which the facility was broken into without their knowledge. Sources claimed the theft could have been collusion with some court employees ''since no one could have known where the keys into the SRM's chambers were other than employees''. A week ago, Nyakach law courts' premises in Nyando district were broken into and computers stolen. No one has been arrested over the theft.