- The witness said she then got information that there were people back at home who were looking for her.
- ICC investigators asked her to agree to meet with the people looking for her
Image: ICC-CPI./ICC
The third prosecution witness in the case against lawyer Paul Gicheru on Wednesday told the court she was offered cash to withdraw from the ICC.
The witness said the attempts were made after she had provided statements to the prosecution in regard to the violence that rocked the country after the 2007 elections.
The prosecution led by senior trial lawyer Anton Steynberg said the woman also provided statements to the prosecution on witness tampering.
The witness told the court attempts to get her started after she relocated from her home sometime in April 2013 after making initial statements to the ICC in December 2012.
The witness said she then got information that there were people back at home who were looking for her.
“I received a call from Person Number 53 who told me that there were people looking for me. I immediately notified investigators,” she said.
The witness told the court that ICC investigators asked her to agree to meet with them.
“They asked me to record the conversations on the phone but they later provided me with a recorder. I agreed because I wanted justice for the victims of the post-election violence,” she said.
When they called, the witness said she was informed that she was going to get paid some money when they meet.
When the trial began, the first prosecution witness also told the court that he was offered a bribe to recant all his testimonies.
Witness P0800 further said those offering the bribe asked him not to appear before the court when needed to testify.
Witness P0800 said he immediately contacted ICC prosecutors following the development “because he did not want the case to collapse.”
Gicheru has been accused of undermining the case against Deputy President William Ruto and former Kass radio presenter Joshua arap Sang at the ICC.
The second prosecution witness told the court that an accomplice of Gicheru threatened to kill him if he revealed to anyone his meetings with him.
P034 said Person Number 19 threatened him with his life if he dared revealed to ICC investigators details of his meetings with him.
The defence team in the case sought to demonstrate before the court that the first prosecution witness was a perennial liar.
Lawyer Michael G Karnavas told the court the character of Witness P0800 was in question and that even the Office of the Prosecution had viewed him as a liar.
Karnavas further told the court that other witnesses said P0800 provided them with false information and manufactured falsehoods to be passed on to the prosecution.
Edited by A.N