Edwin Sifuna, who is the lawyer of Paul Ndichu and Edwin Ndichu in a case where the twins are accused of assaulting sisters; Stephanie Murgor and Cheryl Murgor, now says the sisters should be arrested and charged.
He claims they were also involved in the scuffle that took place at Emara Ole Sereni hotel in Nairobi on the night of Sunday October 17.
On Thursday, November 25, both Sifuna and Senior Counsel Philip Murgor who is the lawyer and uncle of Stephanie and Cheryl held separate press conferences in Nairobi, and later released press statements to the media.
Also Read:
Sifuna, in his statement, insisted that the sisters assaulted and caused harm to Hassan Munira; a lady who was in the company of the Ndichu brothers on the fateful night. And that they are supposed to be arrested and charged.
Affray
“The Murgor sisters have failed to honour police summons to answer to their own charges of assaulting and causing actual harm to one Munira. The Police have clearly been intimidated into extending preferential treatment to them because they carry a famous last name. We demand the immediate arrest of the Murgor sisters failing which a formal complaint shall be lodged against the DCIO Langata,” Sifuna’s statement read in part.
But on his part, Murgor claimed that the Ndichu brothers evidently assaulted his clients and that the twins are the culprits who should be charged in this case.
“Therefore on 19/11/2021 a curious development occurred when I received a call from the Deputy DCIO Langata, asking me to present our clients, Cheryl and Patrick to record a statement, provide finger prints, after which they would be charged alongside Munira for the offence of affray. This is against all known procedure, whereby all parties are invited to record a normal witness statement and present their witnesses at all, before a decision is made to charge by the DPP, " part of his statement read.
“We reject this distracting sideshow, and call upon the DPP to call for the file and give appropriate directions on how the offence of affray should be investigated in the light of the explanation of self defence offered by Cheryl and Patrick in statements already recorded. The police investigators are required to seek the guidance of the DPP in view of Section 18 of the Penal Code.
“Further, the Common Law position is that all those who act reasonably and in good faith to defend themselves, their family, their property, or in the prevention of crime, or apprehension of offenders are not prosecuted for using force in self defence," his statement further read.
DPP and IG
He also indicated that he had written complaint letters to both the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and the Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai , letters which Sifuna has dismissed saying the office of the DPP is independent and requires freedom in order to work without pressure.
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement in the Press and a letter addressed to the Director of Public Prosecutions by lawyers for the Murgor Sisters, ostensibly purporting to influence or direct the ODPP in the matter of the incident at Ole Sereni afew weeks back.
“The Murgor Sisters must be reminded that the ODPP is an independent office not subject to direction or control of anyone, including famous uncles.
“We have in the past raised the alarm on attempts by these lawyers to use "old networks" in the ODPP to intimidate the ODPP and DCIO Langata into leveling unsupported charges against the Ndichus in order to use those charges to blackmail them into settling a matter in which they are innocent.
“The public now has evidence of this in the long rumbling letter by the said lawyers," Sifuna's press statement read.
Extortion claim
Sifuna went ahead to dispute claims that his clients; the Ndichus, had approached Murgor to pay them money in order to settle the matter out of court.
Murgor had claimed that they had been approached by three advocates seeking an amicable out of court settlement on behalf of the Ndichu brothers.
While at it, Sifuna asserted his previous claim that the Murgors were out to extort the Ndichus.
“Contrary to what the Murgor Sisters are claiming, our clients have made no offers at all to settle this matter because they firmly believe in due process. As such our position remains that we want to meet these extortionists in court. We will not negotiate with criminals," Sifuna said.
Murgor’s press statement read in part;
“It was also reported through social media that Minira Hassan who had hitherto been untraceable, had finally surrendered herself to the police. At the same time there was a vicious and well-orchestrated social media campaign, falsely depicting our clients and ourselves as extortionists and influence peddlers, who were out to financially capitalize on the incident to extort money from the Ndichus. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“We have been approached by 3 different advocates, one of whom is also an MP, all seeking an amicable out of court settlement on behalf of the Ndichu brothers.
“One advocate, Mr. Njenga Kiarie, from the firm of Amadi & Associates followed it up with a letter dated 26th October 2021, offering to pay for the repairs for the damage to the car belonging to Samuel Ramdas. We politely rejected all the overtures, and indicated that it was in the public interest that the case proceeds to court.
The press statements are backed up by audios and videos in our possession.
