Four Chinese nationals who were arrested on February 9th for allegedly caning Kenyan workers at a Nairobi restaurant have asked the court to deport them.

The four; Deng Hailan, Chang Yueping, Ou Qiang and Yu Ling made the application when they appeared before High Court Justice Luka Kimaru on Tuesday.

The foreigners told the court that they were willing to be deported back to their country because they are suffering but the DCI opposed their application, terming it an abuse of the court process and an attempt to defeat justice. The DCI asked the court to dismiss the application and allow the case to continue.

“The investigations against the suspects is ongoing and critical since we are still pursuing the employer /owner of the hotel who has since gone into hiding having learned of the arrest of the suspects,” the DCI said in an affidavit.

On February 13th, Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwany allowed police to detain the four for 15 days for investigations to be completed. Hours later, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i signed a deportation order for the four but the order was suspended by Justice Kimaru on February 19th after the suspects challenged the removal.

The four were arrested after detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided Chez Wou Restaurant in Kileleshwa, Nairobi on February 9th.

The raid came hours after a video clip showing Hailan, a chef at the restaurant, canning a Kenyan waiter went viral on social media. After the arrest, it was discovered that Hailan did not have a valid work permit.

Yueping and Qiang, who are both chefs at the restaurant, were holding expired visas while Yu Ling, a cashier, was holding a visitor’s visa but without a work permit, according to the DCI.

They are all facing charges of assault and causing actual bodily harm.

Agents