After being accused of sodomizing ten boys, a 62-year-old man was brought before a Nakuru court and ordered to be detained.
In addition, Martin Herman Baumgartner, aka Mzee, was charged with three further counts of human trafficking and a second case of unlawful possession of a firearm.
As he appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Emmanuel Soita, the accused, accused of committing the offences on various dates between November 2014 and April 2019, entered a not guilty plea to all of the accusations.
The prosecution team, led by Mr Dismas Kiplang'at, warned the court that Mr Baumgartner was a flight risk due to his dual citizenship with Kenya and Germany while challenging his release on bond.
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Chief Inspector Evelyne Mboya from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation's Anti-Human Trafficking and Protection Unit supported his application that the accused was likely to obstruct investigations in a sworn document signed by the case's principal investigator.
"The accused person supports male children financially through his business Tujenge Holdings Limited. He has a lot of clout in the neighbourhood as a company director. The probability of being compromised increases because the victims work for the accused, the prosecution informed Mr Soita.
Baumgartner, also known as Marto, was detained on February 14 in the Bahati Sub-County neighbourhood of Kwa Nyayo close to the Kamindo Center. Laurence Karanja is Baumgartner's legal counsel.
The court is aware that the accused has a Double Action Revolver with serial number 4201001830 without a valid gun license.
In the interests of justice and advancing the kids' best interests, he urged the court to expedite the hearing of the case on a priority basis.
The prosecution urged the court to put the child's best interests ahead of all other matters before this honourable court.
Being a law-abiding citizen, Karanja begged the judge to grant his client bail.
He testified before the court that Mr Baumgartner was not a flight risk because he had been cooperating with the investigators and was ready to follow the court-imposed bail restrictions.
According to the defence attorney, the accused was unlikely to obstruct the inquiry, given police had already taken down witness statements.
Soita ruled that the defendant should remain in custody at the Nakuru GK prison until February 22, when he will decide whether to grant the prosecution's request. Mr Bernard Kipkoech is the representative for the families of the complainants.
