DPP to investigate how evidence in Moses Kuria hate speech case was stolen

DPP to investigate how evidence against Moses Kuria was stolen

Tony Mukere

December 10, 2019 1:09 PM

Evidence against Moses Kuria mysteriously disappears

Gatundu South’s Moses Kuria during a past court appearance alongside Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu

A Nairobi court has directed the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the circumstances under which evidence against Gatundu South MP was stolen.

The DPP told the court that they had realised that the police file used to prosecute Kuria in a 2015 hate speech case had been messed with and some witness statements plucked.

Presiding magistrate Kennedy Cheruyoit adjourned the case until mid 2020 to allow the state time to trace the statements and explain the circumstances the said evidence was stolen.

“I, therefore, grant the last adjournment to allow the prosecution to put their house in order by establishing who stole the statements,” Cheruiyot ruled.

The case against Kuria has stalled since 2015 when he was arrested and charged with making statements that encouraged violence.

The sharp-tongued legislator had made a speech where he told his constituents to allegedly use pangas against anyone who would oppose the NYS projects which were at the time, at the center of a corruption scandal.

Kuria has in the past complained that the cases against him have not been terminated in the same way that other Opposition politicians have had their cases withdrawn in the post-handshake era.

In August this year, the MP was acquitted in another hate speech case where he was accused of threatening ODM Leader Raila Odinga and his wife Ida.

Tony Mukere