Naivasha MP Jane Kihara will today return to court for
the mention of a case in which the state wants her charged with incitement.
The High Court had, in August, suspended Kihara’s intended criminal prosecution pending the determination of a constitutional petition filed by the lawmaker.
The orders issued by Justice Chacha Mwita forced trial magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi to suspend the trial so as to wait for the outcome of the High Court petition.
However, parties are required to appear before the magistrate for the court to be apprised of the progress of the petition today.
Kihara was arrested in July and arraigned over alleged offensive conduct. But she failed to take a plea at the initial appearance after her lawyers contested the validity of the charge sheet, which they claimed was defective.
However, the magistrate later ruled that the charge sheet filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions was properly framed.
Kihara was released on a personal bond of Sh50,000, but the court deferred the plea-taking after her lawyers argued she had filed a petition in the High Court.
Kihara insists the charges are politically motivated and lacked merit.
Yasin Moyo case
Elsewhere, the High Court will give directions in a case where police officer Duncan Ndiema is charged with the murder of Yasin Moyo in 2020.
The 13-year-old Yasin Moyo was shot as he stood on a balcony in March 2020, watching police enforce a nighttime curfew. A night-time curfew was introduced at the end of March, along with other measures, in order to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Duncan Ndiema pleaded not guilty.
State witnesses, including Yasin Moyo’s parents and sisters, have already testified in the matter.
Justice Margaret Muigai is expected to give directions today.
Kianjokoma brothers case
In the same court, six police officers charged with the murder of the Kianjokoma brothers in Embu in 2021 will also be awaiting directions on the matter.
Last week, a pathologist told the court that the injuries sustained by the Kianjokoma brothers, leading to their death in Embu in August 2021, were not consistent with police claims that they fell from a moving vehicle.
The pathologist who testified in the matter said both Benson Ndwiga and his brother Emmanuel Ndwiga died from severe head injuries caused by blunt force trauma.
The witness, whom the court asked not to be named for safety reasons, said both bodies had fragmental skulls fractures, which could not have been the case had they fallen from a moving vehicle.
Six police officers have been charged with the murder of the Kianjokoma brothers on the night of August 1 into the morning of August 2, 2021. They are Benson Mputhia, Consolata Kariuki, Nicholas Cheruyoit, Martin Wanyama, Lilian Chemuna and James Mwaniki.
The officers were allegedly enforcing COVID-19 curfew rules at the time. It is alleged that the brothers were arrested for contravening the health safety regulations but jumped out of a moving police landrover to escape arrest.
The police claim the jump was fatal.
