Court orders investigating officer to record statements from Uhuru, Raila over CBD night tour

Milimani Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul has ordered an investigating officer assigned the case lodged against two Sarova Stanley contractees to record statements from President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, whose videos showing them touring Nairobi CBD at night, were allegedly shared by the accused "in contravention of the Cyber Crimes law".

The footage was obtained from June 2, 2020 CCTV recordings captured by Sarova Stanley surveillance cameras, which showed President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga inspecting a deserted Kenyatta Avenue at 8:20pm.

Patrick Rading Ambogo, a security supervisor, and Janet Magoma Ayonga, a CCTV controller contracted by Sarova Stanley, were on June 17 charged with unauthorised interception of computer data under Section 17 (1) of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act.

Ambogo and Ayonga, who are currently out on Ksh10, 000 bail each, are being represented by lawyers Danstan Omari and Apollo Mboya, who requested the court to order the investigating officer, David Tenei, to record statements from President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga as their statements would be crucial to the case.

Milimani Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul allowed Omari’s request, and directed Chief Inspector Tenei to obtain statements from President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, and submit to the Court in one week’s time the pair’s recorded account of events.

“We had requested the prosecution to furnish us with statements filed by President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, who are alleged to have been caught on tape touring the CBD at night, but the prosecution is yet to heed our request,” said Omari, who also asked the prosecution to supply the defense with an original footage of the June 2, 2020 CCTV recording.

Magistrate Abdul, who described the case as “interesting”, ordered the parties to appear before her on July 9, 2020.

The suspects were employed by Fidelity Guards and Robinson Security who are New Stanley Hotel's property security guards and CCTV operators respectively.

The two were accused of “jointly intentionally and without authorisation intercepted a security CCTV footage capturing the Head of State’s entourage along Kenyatta Avenue.”

The charge, on conviction, carries a fine of Ksh10 million or a jail term of not more than five years or both.

“A person who intentionally and without authorisation does any act which intercepts or causes to be indirectly and causes the transmission of data to or from a computer system over a telecommunication system commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or both,” a section of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act says.