The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was on Tuesday forced to close an incitement case against Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria following a blunder by the Director of Criminal Investigations detectives.
Daily Nation reported that prosecutor Kajuju Kirimi closed the case on Tuesday with cyber-crime expert Chief Inspector Alexander Mathenge Tiha being the last witness.
The blunder appeared in Tiha's statement after he admitted that his report on a video that was at the center of the case was different from what the DCI had asked him to do.
According to the court's sheet, Kuria was accused of attacking former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and asking people not to vote for him during the then-upcoming national elections.
The video surfaced shortly after Chief Justice David Maraga and his bench nullified the August 8, 2017, presidential election.
After downloading and analysing the video, Tiha told the court that he did not come across the 16 offensive words that had been contained in the charge sheet.
“As has been put to you by defence lawyer Francis Munyororo, [did you go] beyond the scope of the instructions given to you by the DCI to make a case against Kuria that was not there?" asked the magistrate.
“That’s true. My report does not rhyme with the words contained in the charge sheet," answered Tiha.
In the clip that was also played in court, it was alleged that the MP called for a manhunt of all the 70,000 people who had reportedly voted for Raila in the cancelled elections.
In his defence, Kuria denied ever addressing a congregation at Wangige in Kiambu, on September 11, 2017, which is the date the charge sheet claims the incident happened.
Tiha explained that the video did not clearly show who recorded it and where the alleged meeting happened.
