Kiambu court frees 6 Kenya Power staff unconditionally
Senior Kenya Power staff Julius Karani Mwaniki (left), Raphael Ndolo Kimeu and David Kamau at Kahawa Law Courts on January 25, 2022. They were freed on Sh1m cash bail each after pleading not guilty to sabotage and neglect of duty following nationwide blackout two weeks ago.
A Kiambu court has unconditionally released six Kenya Power employees detained over their alleged role in a nationwide outage on January 11.
The six were among nine workers of the utility firm who had been in custody for over a week.
Prosecutors told the court that their investigations had revealed that the six had no case to answer and should be released to resume their duties.
The six released by Kahawa Senior Principal Magistrate Boaz Ombewa were George Kipkoech, Geoffrey Kipkirui, Anthony Gathii, Martin Musyoki, Joshua Wasakha and Peter Musyoki.
“Our investigations have so far not found the six respondents culpable of any offence and we now withdraw our application that sought to detain them further,” said prosecutor Jillo Guyo.
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta, who was part of the legal team representing the six, lauded the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), saying the state agency had shown impartiality in its investigations.
Impartiality
“The (DCI) has shown impartiality and transparency in a case without settling political or personal scores. We laud them because these were innocent Kenyans whose careers were on the verge of being ruined by offences they never committed,” Mr Ombeta said after the ruling.
His sentiments were echoed by lawyer Danstan Omari.
But in a different court, it was a blow to Raphael Ndolo Kimeu, David Kamau and Julius Karani Mwaniki when prosecutors said they had found evidence linking the three to the January 11 nationwide outage.
The court was told that the outage occurred due to their negligence.
Sh1 million cash bail
But the three were released on Sh1 million cash bail each or an alternative bond of Sh2 million each.
Making the ruling, Kahawa Chief Magistrate Diana Mochache said the matter was serious as the accused are alleged to have deliberately neglected their duties.
“I have listened to the submissions from both the prosecution and the defence team. The matter before this honourable court is serious and falls under deliberate negligence that could have been avoided,” she said.
“With this in mind, I now release the respondents on cash bail of Sh1 million each or a bond of Sh2 million each (and if they fail to pay) they will be remanded in police custody until February 9 when the court will converge for the virtual mention.”
The magistrate said prosecutors had alleged that though the respondents had been informed about vandalism on power pylons in the affected areas since December 9, they never acted.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 7.
