Former Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko has been freed by a Kiambu court in a case relating to the assault of nine people and forceful entry to private property in Buruburu phase four.
Sonko had been charged in 2021 with 10 counts of assaulting nine men causing bodily harm and forcely entering the property of Landmark International Limited.
Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ooko on Monday, March 3, 2023, freed Sonko after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) informed the court that the 10 complainants in the case sought to drop the case against the former governor
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"From complainant number one all the way to number 10, their application to have the matter withdrawn and reasons advanced have not been opposed by the prosecution, I allow the same as prayed. This case is marked as closed," Ooko stated.
The Magistrate also ordered the cash bail or bond terms Sonko had deposited in court be refunded back to him.
Sonko had been charged with nine counts of assault causing bodily harm to Evans Obaga, George Chege, Paul Kahinga, Charles Karori, Alex Kioko, Stephen Ouma, Musyoki Kavunda, John Mungai and Joel Kinja Muthui.
The offences are said to have occurred on May 25, 2019, at 1400 hours at Buruburu Phase 4 in Kamukunji sub-county in Nairobi County.
The court heard that Sonko left his office at City Hall while he was the Nairobi Governor and proceeded to Buruburu Phase Four while accompanied by youths who under his utterances caused the commission of the offences.
Today's acquittal comes barely a month after the Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court freed him in a case relating to the alleged misappropriation of funds amounting to Ksh357 million belonging to the Nairobi county government.
On February 7, 2024, Magistrate Eunice Nyutu acquitted Sonko and 16 others of all the charges saying the ODPP had failed to prove that they conspired to embezzle the said funds.
