A blogger who allegedly damaged his ex-wife’s Sh 1.2 million property has been charged at a Makadara court.
Zachariah Opondo Obiero was accused of maliciously damaging a six-burner gas cooker, a 75-inch TV set, a Samsung double-door fridge, one Sony home theatre, four dressing mirrors and assorted kitchenware among other properties of Linda Lesso.
He is said to have committed the offence on diverse dates between October 11 and 12, 2019 at Nazra estate in Embakasi East, Nairobi county.
Opondo faced a second count of threatening to kill the complainant's children.
The court heard that on the same day, Opondo threatened to kill a child aged three years and another aged 10 years.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges before Makadara senior principal magistrate Stephen Jalang'o.
Through his lawyers Opondo said that the matter was a domestic issue which happened in 2019 and had been resolved and marked as settled at the police station.
He said revival of the matter a year later was in bad faith.
He further accused police officers of detaining him beyond the 24 hours constitutional provision.
He asked court for a lenient bond terms.
The prosecution through state counsel Adelaide Robito asked the court to impose stringent bond terms on the accused as he had been issuing threats to the complainant.
“Your honour, I pray for strict bond terms. The accused is a blogger and has been issuing threats and intimidating the complainant on social media. In one incident he broke side mirrors of the complainant’s car,” she said.
In a rejoinder, Opondo said there was no way he could be a threat to the complainant or even go to her house since she was now married to a senior police officer.
In his ruling Jalang’o said that both the accused person and the complainant were barred from commenting in social media or any other place on the matter other than in court.
“The accused is further warned against contacting the complainant directly or indirectly or contacting any of the prosecution witnesses. The breach of the above will lead to cancellation of the bond terms,” he said.
He freed the accused on a cash bail of Sh150,000.
Edited by Henry Makori
