A businessman was on Tuesday hit with a 13-year jail sentence for causing violence in a Jubilee campaign rally.
Linus Mithika, 39, was charged with causing severe harm to Evans Mutethia, 28, during Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi's rally at Kagame market.
The victim, Mr Mutethia is a youth supporter of Governor Murungi while Mr Mithika is allied to former Governor Peter Munya.
According to the ruling issued by Senior Resident Magistrate Stella Abuya, the prosecution proved the charges against him by demonstrating that the rally ended prematurely.
Mutethia also supported the allegations by providing medical evidence to show that Mr Munya's supporters assaulted him during the July incident.
[caption caption="KIraitu Murungi supporters at a past rally"]
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According to the charge sheet, Mithika interfered with political campaigns contrary to Section 13 (f) of the Elections Offences Act, by shouting and throwing stones during the Jubilee rally.
Nonetheless, he defended himself by stating that he was caught up in the violence that marred the rally.
He further claimed that he had suffered injuries by producing documents which were rejected by Meru Level Five Hospital.
“I do not doubt that the accused was one of the culprits as two witnesses who knew him before the incident stated that during the rally, he shouted PNU slogans and incited the public to throw stones,” Ms Abuya noted.
For disrupting the rally, he was fined Sh50,000 which is equal to three years in jail.
[caption caption="Kiraitu Murungi and his supporters"]
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On the second count of assault on the victim, he was also fined the same amount failure to which he will serve ten years in prison.
