Kenya frees 16 motorcycle taxi drivers arrested over road attack on woman
A Kenyan court on Monday released 16 motorcycle taxi drivers arrested over a attack on a female diplomat.
The riders were rounded up early this month after a viral video showed men grabbing at the young woman’s clothing and groping her as she screamed for help from inside the car, whose door had been forced open.
The Nairobi magistrate court ordered their immediate release after the prosecution said they did not have enough evidence to link the riders to the crime.
“The investigating officer having found no evidence to charge the suspects, I hereby release them,” ruled senior principal magistrate Martha Nanzushi.
A 17th man, the suspected ringleader of the attack, will however stand trial and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty of sexual assault.
He was arrested in mid-March near the Tanzania border, some 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Nairobi after evading arrest through a sewer duct, police said.
The shocking daylight attack sparked a furore in Kenya with demonstrators staging a protest in the capital Nairobi against the actions of the riders.
President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a crackdown on motorcycle taxis and instructed law enforcement officers to ensure the perpetrators were punished
