Weiss Marvin Valentin from Germany found guilty of harassing a female athlete

Weiss Marvin Valentin, an athlete from Germany has been ordered to pay a fine of sh70,000 or risk facing up to six months in jail after being found guilty of cyber harassment.

Valentin, appeared before Iten Senior Resident Magistrate Caroline Ateya on Thursday, April 19 and pleaded guilty to three counts of sending disturbing messages and a fourth count of malicious information to an athlete only identified as Regina Nguria.

It was revealed that the 25-year-old while training in Iten was smitten with the victim but the latter declined his unwanted advances.

"He persistently but unsuccessfully tried luring her though he was warned of his unbecoming behaviour by other athletes and even the coach,” stated the prosecution in part.

Threats

Angered by the rejection, Valentin proceeded to send disturbing messages to Nguria, at one point indicating intentions of hurting her. “You are (sic) having my blood in your hands. Tomorrow I will go to heaven and you will go to hell,” read one text obtained by the prosecution.

Court documents showed that Valentin went on to comment on a photo of Nguria posted on Instagram saying: “It was the plan from both of you to break my spirit by trapping me (sic) coming back to Kenya. Soon, the woman on the left will burn in hell…”

On the same day, the accused commented on a photo on the same social media platform saying: “Hopefully Regina is deceased in a few days.”

After pleading guilty to the charges, a visibly angry Valentin apologised to the court as well as asked the Magistrate to allow him to travel back to Germany claiming he was sick. “I am sorry for the messages. Send me back home for medication because I am sick.”

Senior Resident Magistrate Ateya ruled that Valentin should leave Kenya within 72 hours of paying the fine or completing the prison term, failure to which he would be deported.