Alex Olaba, a former rugby player, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of attempting to assassinate a witness in a gang rape case.
Olaba was found guilty of two charges of tampering with the legal process and conspiring to assassinate a witness by Nairobi Court Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on Wednesday, May 24.
“Although the accused is remorseful, the charges against him are serious.” “I convict and sentence him to six years in prison on count one of conspiracy to kill and two years in prison on count two of interference with judicial process,” Onsarigo declared.
Olaba was found guilty on May 15 of attempting to assassinate a critical witness in 2021. He was charged alongside his ex-teammate Frank Wanyama. He made repeated attempts, both directly and indirectly, to contact a State witness in the gang rape case with the purpose of interfering with his trial, according to investigating officer George Otieno.
The court was told that Olaba used illegal and desperate measures to quiet the witness after he received no favorable answer. The rugby player and a friend were accused of gang raping a woman on February 10, 2019, in a Highrise flat in Nairobi County’s Nyayo Estate.
The two were given 15 years in prison each after Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku found them guilty. Later, they would file an appeal before Justice Ngenye Macharia in the High Court.