A university dean accused of assaulting his colleague, suffered a setback after the High Court declined to stop criminal proceedings against him.
Samuel Nderitu, Dean of Social Science at the Catholic University of East Africa, is accused of assaulting his colleague lecturer Dr Rosa Ko after the two disagreed on the increased number of part-time tutors at the institution.
He had made an application at the High Court to stop any court from proceeding with the charges.
But in his ruling, High Court Judge John Mativo dismissed the application and ruled that the DPP has a responsibility to hear the case depending on the witnesses he has.
He also ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the application and ordered the case to proceed.
“The DPP has complete independence of decision making basing on the evidence, there is no material that has been presented to demonstrate that there is not enough evidence, and it's fair for the judiciary, the police and the prosecution to do its work,” he said.
Nderitu is accused of inflicting bodily harm on Ko after assaulting her on October 3 last year at CUEA's Karen campus.
Ko reported the matter to Hardy Police Station and after investigations, the accused was arrested. She was an assistant professor in International Relations and was fired after the incident.
Nderitu denied the charge and was freed on a bail of Sh30,000 or a bond of Sh50,000 with a surety of the same amount.
Police doctor Joseph Kamau told a Kibera court that Ko was attacked with a blunt object leading to bodily harm.
Kamau told the court that upon examining Ko he found she suffered injuries on the lower part of her right biceps.
A medical report from Karen Hospital tabled in court showed that the lecturer was admitted after the incident.
He told the court Ko filed the case against him so as to take over his position as dean.
The case will proceed on September 26.
Edited by N. Mbugua
