American Man Charged with Assaulting Kenyan Police Officer

A Nairobi court has allowed police to detain a United States national accused of assaulting and causing bodily harm to a Kenyan police officer.

Appearing before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Onkwani on Friday, Alex Harpe was charged with assault and creating a disturbance.

Harpe, a private company executive, is accused of attacking Police Corporal Duncan Kiprono and causing a disturbance at Azuri Hotel in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area on October 14th this year.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was detained for six days pending the determination of his bail application.

Lawyers Felix Kiprono, Festus Mbati, and Francis Karanja, representing the complainant, vehemently opposed the release of Harpe saying he would interfere with witnesses.

"If released he will flee and interfere with witnesses. The accused injured a police officer [and chased] away a receptionist at Azuri Hotel," said lawyer Kiprono.

The prosecution indicated that there were convincing reasons to deny the suspect bail, stating that was a flight risk.

“I urge this court to exercise its discretion in favor of the prosecution and deny him bond,” the prosecutor noted.

On its part, the defense team urged the court to release the accused, noting that the Constitution does not discriminate against local citizens and foreigners.

“All are treated equally in the face of the law," the court heard.

A ruling on his bail application will be delivered on October 30th, 2019.