•The magistrate said the reinstatement of the bond terms will become effective only after the apology is issued.
•The court ruling was made in absentia as Cherargei had been taken for treatment at the Nairobi hospital.
Image: FILE
A Nairobi court on Monday evening conditionally suspended the warrant of arrest against Nandi senator Samson Cherargei and reinstated his bond terms in the hate speech case facing him.
Milimani chief magistrate Wendy Micheni directed the senator and his lawyer to apologize to the court in person for castigating the High court judge and the trial magistrate.
"I have suspended the warrant of arrest against the accused and order that he apologizes before this Court in person with his lawyer Dancun Okubasu," the magistrate ruled.
The magistrate said the reinstatement of the bond terms will become effective only after the apology is issued.
The court ruling was made in absentia as Cherargei had been taken for treatment at the Nairobi hospital.
Prosecution counsel Alexander Muteti told the court that he had information that the senator had been admitted.
Earlier, the defence lawyer Dancun Okubasu took the blame for misleading the legislator leading to his failure to appear in court on April 19 for proceedings in his hate speech case.
Okubasu said he was remorseful and pleaded for the court’s forgiveness as he sought to have his client released.
Cherargei was on Friday last week detained for skipping the hearing of his case on grounds that he was sick.
Okubasu said he advised the senator to skip the session as he was attending a High court case of criminal nature.
He urged the court to lift the warrant of arrest and reinstate the cash bail of Sh300,000 to allow the senator to attend court while out of police custody.
"Your honour we are very sorry for misleading our client on appearing in court and we seek that you don't take it on him. He was sick and the OCS failed to have him checked after being detained," Okubasu said in his plea.
The court heard that Cherargei was sick and was treated on April 18.
He was given seven days to recuperate before going back on April 25.
The lawmaker was arrested on April 20 at his home in Nandi.
He faces charges of ethnic contempt contrary to the National Cohesion and Integration Act over utterances he allegedly made at a public function in Nandi in 2019.
The case will be mentioned on May 5.