A businessman charged in 2014 with breaking a friend’s leg by pushing her out of a moving vehicle has been acquitted by a Makadara court.
Samwel Njoroge was accused of causing grievous harm to Mercy Murugi on May 13, 2014 in Ngara and he denied the charges.
Senior principal magistrate Angelo Kithinji said the prosecution evidence was that Murugi was pushed out of the moving vehicle by Njoroge and fell down breaking her leg.
Murugi testified that Njoroge had earlier quarreled with his wife over Murugi who accused them of having an affair. She said Njoroge had said his wife had hired thugs to attack her while drunk.
She said she worked as a bar maid and left work at 11pm. She had met the accused and his wife in the bar where she refused to drink alcohol Njoroge bought her.
Murugi said she saw the accused fighting with his wife and refused to take alcohol as she was not allowed at work.
She claimed when they met at Ngara the next day and while boarding a vehicle back to Dandora, Njoroge pushed her out of the vehicle. She added that she had no grudge against the accused as Njoroge and his wife are the ones who took her to hospital.
On cross examination she denied being drunk and fainting.
Doctor Joseph Maundu who examined Murugi on May 30, 2014 said she had a plaster on her right leg and the injury was caused by a blunt object.
During his defence, Njoroge told court that they both lived in Dandora and were friends. He said on the fateful day, they were coming from Ngara when Murugi accidentally slid from the moving vehicle and broke her leg. She was unconscious from the pain and he took her to hospital with the help of his wife. He was surprised to learn later that he was being charged with the offence.
“To this end, the failure by the prosecution to challenge the sworn statement by the accused that Murugi slipped and fallen from the vehicle in the absence of any other witnesses means that possibility exists”, the magistrate ruled.
Kithinji said there was no burden on the accused to establish that by reason of his intoxication, he was incapable of forming a specific intention required to proof the offence charged.
“Accordingly, this court is satisfied that the evidence fails to meet the required standard in criminal proceedings and proceeds to acquit the accused of the charge as per Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code”, Kithinji ruled.
