Court Dismisses Application Requesting Statements From Uhuru, Raila In CCTV Leakage Case

The case pitting two guards and the state regarding a leaked footage of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga took a new twist on Thursday.

This is after the High Court dismissed a request by the guards to demand a statement from President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. 

The two are facing charges of illegally leaking CCTV footage of the two leaders within Nairobi CBD.  

In his ruling, Milimani senior principal magistrate Benard Ochoi dismissed the application on the grounds of low relevance. 

"I find the application baseless and frivolous," Mr Ochoi said.

The two demanded statements from both President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, whose security was allegedly threatened with the leakage. 

According to the prosecution, they had no intention of calling President Kenyatta or Mr Odinga as witnesses. 

The judge ruled that the accused cannot compel the prosecution to call any witness. In the ruling, Ochoi, noted that the two failed to show the relevance of the evidence of the said witnesses considering that they are not the ones in charge of the CCTV cameras. 

The two guards, Patrick Randing Ambogo and Janet Magoma are accused of intercepting a CCTV footage of President Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga, while inspecting footpaths and walkways on Kenyatta Avenue on June 2. 

The footage was widely circulated on social media where the two leaders were inspecting the Nairobi Metropolitan Project.  

The prosecution charged them with an unauthorized interception of computer data contrary to section 1791 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act. 

The two pleaded not guilty and were released on a cash bail of Sh10,000 or a bond of Sh30,000 each. They are represented by lawyers Dunstan Omari and Apollo Mboya. 

On conviction, the charge carries a fine of Sh10 million or a jail term of not more than five years or both.