Uhuru, Raila hold key to CBD night tour case

By , K24 Digital
On Tue, 6 Oct, 2020 16:42 | 2 mins read
Uhuru and Raila
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga at a past function. PHOTO | FILE
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga at a past function. PHOTO | FILE

A Nairobi court has directed the public prosecutor to provide statements from President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, if any, in a case where two security staff were charged with intercepting CCTV footage showing the Head of State's entourage on Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi.

Nairobi Magistrate Bernard Ochoi also ordered the state to provide an amended charge sheet, if any, to the court before October 29, 2020.

The two accused, Patrick Ambogo and Janet Magoma Anyoga, worked at Sarova Stanely Hotel as outsourced workers in charge of security and CCTV respectively when without authority intercepted footage capturing the Head of State's entourage while in the Central Business District.

So far, four witnesses have already recorded their statements and the same given to the defense team.

It has now been four months since Ambogo and Anyoga were arraigned.

The suspect's lawyer, Danstan Omari, insisted on being supplied with statements from President Kenyatta and Raila before the court begins to hear the matter.

"We had requested statements from the complainant who is the President of this country and Raila Odinga who were alleged to have been in the entourage that the accused persons... To date, those statements have not come," said Omari.

The lawyer also requested the court to be supplied with the original clip that captured the entourage.

The two denied charges before Ochoi and were released on bail of Sh 10,000 in June 2020.

When the two accused appeared for mention of the case on July 2, before Nairobi Principal Magistrate Zainab Abdul, the court ordered the investigating officer to record statements from Kenyatta and Raila, since they were the ones apparently captured in the video touring Nairobi CBD at night.

The investigating officer was ordered to submit to the court in one week’s time, the top leaders' recorded account of events.

But the accused's lawyer told the court that they have now been waiting for the statements since July.

Omari's clients were employees of Fidelity Guards (Ambogo) and Robinson Security (Anyoga) who are New Stanley Hotel’s property security guards and CCTV operators respectively.

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