Moses Kuria now acquitted of incitement charges against Raila, Ida

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria was on Friday acquitted of hate-speech and incitement to violence charges pressed against him at the Milimani Law Courts.

In the ruling, Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi said that the prosecution did not adduce enough evidence against the law maker to establish a prima facie case.

Kuria was accused of uttering unprintable remarks against Raila and his wife Ida during a political rally at Wangige in Kiambu on September 11, 2017, accusations which he denied.

Video evidence that had been relied on by the prosecution as the main exhibit was said to contain a message that amounted to incitement as the accused person complained about 200, 000 registered voters who did not cast their vote and the 70, 000 who voted for Raila.

A letter by the DCI’s Serious Crime Unit to the communication Authority similarly indicated Kuria had called for manhunt of 70, 000 people in the county who voted for Raila.

Through his Lawyer Geoffrey Omenke, the MP argued that the video clip presented by chief inspector Alexander Mathenge did not show him making statements about the voters.

The video played in court only captured Kuria asking the youths whether they would allow someone deny them their share of meat.

“Raila cannot be trusted with the future of Kenyan youths because he has “offered his own three children as sacrifice” to gain power,” the video showed.

In his judgement, the magistrate dismissed the video evidence claimed to have gone viral by the prosecution, explaining that the authenticity of the video was not proved.

He further expounded on the meaning of the word ‘viral’ saying it was not demonstrated as the number of people who had seen the video was not presented.

He additionally added that the charges pressed against the law maker did not meet the threshold of section 96 (a) of the penal code which required that such statement should bring death or physical injury to any person or to any class, community or body of persons; or to lead to the damage or destruction of any property.

As such, statements presented before court failed to establish a prima facie case since they were not related to charges filed against Kuria.

The MP was acquitted against and a direction was made to refund the Ksh. 300,000 cash bail that had been given to ensure his attendance in court.