• The investigating officer also confirmed that Samuel Gateri- the co-accused was supposed to be their witness in the case and was arrested after he commented on the letter
• Court told that letter had been seen in another group even before it landed on the Tanga Tanga WhatsApp forum.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
An investigating officer has told the court that Interior PS Karanja Kibicho was the complainant in the alleged fake assassination letter case against State House digital strategist Dennis Itumbi.
The fake letter detailing an alleged attempt to assassinate Deputy President William Ruto.
Corporal Yvonne Anyango told Milimani chief magistrate Martha Mutuku that Kibicho was the complainant but he was dropped in the matter by the DCI.
“Your honour the complainant was PS Kibicho but it was decided that his name be dropped because we did not find it necessary," Anyango told the court.
When asked by Itumbi’s lawyer Katwa Kigen why the name was dropped yet the PS was supposed to be a witness, Anyango said she did not know.
The investigating officer also confirmed that Samuel Gateri - the co-accused was supposed to be their witness in the case and was arrested after he commented on the letter.
The investigating officer was testifying against Itumbi who was charged last year with forging the letter dated May 30, 2019, purporting it to be a genuine document made by a Cabinet Secretary.
Itumbi was also charged with the reprogramming of his mobile phone.
The officer also insisted that Itumbi’s phone had been reprogrammed at the time she was doing her investigations.
She said he did that so that if it is investigated the officers cannot find anything.
She added that Itumbi’s phone was in use until when the letter surfaced. The officers couldn't get data.
However, Kigen said the messages might have deleted themselves in the phone but the officer defended that unless it was demanded by the owner.
"Deleting messages is not reprogramming," the lawyer argued.
When asked whether there is any CS known from whom the letter might have come from, Anyango said it came from a loyal CS whom she does not know.
Anyango was also pressed to explain to the court why she requested the court to detain Itumbi for 14 days to allow her to get forensic details when the data only took six minutes to be extracted.
“From the documents we have in court, the process of extracting data only took six minutes but as the investigating officer, you asked for 14 days, explain why,” Kigen posed.
She defended the DCI by saying that she consulted with forensic experts who had said it will take 14 days.
When asked about interviewing all the 256 people in the Tanga tanga group, the officer said she only interviewed four admins who were running the group.
The court heard that the letter had earlier been circulating in another group which was Kiambu forum which the investigating officer did not investigate.
She confirmed that she only investigated the Tanga Tanga Whatsapp group where she obtained the letter from Itumbi’s group.
She said Itumbi had sent the letter in the group.
Another witness an admin of Tanga tanga Whatsapp group Lilian Wamaitha said she came across the letter when she saw a discussion in the group.
She told the court Itumbi’s number was being tagged in the discussion and she said the letter had been in another group called Kiambu forum where she is also an admin before it was seen in the Tanga Tanga group.
She said she didn’t know who posted in the Kiambu forum but only saw Itumbi who had posted in Tanga Tanga group.
She said she saw the discussion on the matter having been reported to the police and decided to remove him from the group.
The case continues on Tuesday.