A motorist who was captured in a viral video on social media where he was seen assaulting a police officer has told court that he is seeking to negotiate and settle the matter out of court with the complainant.
Martin Waitima who appeared before Milimani Law Courts’ Chief Magistrate Wendy Micheni pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and resisting arrest.
“You are charged that on March 17, 2022, along Uhuru Highway in Nairobi, within Nairobi county, you willfully and unlawfully assaulted Mark Kirimi Muriara who was at the time of the said assault acting in due execution of his duties as a police officer,” the charge sheet read in part.
In Count Two, the accused person is alleged to have resisted lawful arrest.
During mitigation for bail, Martin through his defence counsel asked the Chief Magistrate for lenient bond terms and indicated to the court that they intend to reach out to the complainant to settle the matter amicably.
“This is a normal assault case only that it involves a police officer who is the complainant in this matter so I am pleading for lenient cash bail on behalf of my client. I have indicated to the prosecution that we wish to settle this matter out of court,” the accused’s advocate said.
According to a police report in court, on the material day, the complainant witnessed an accident that had happened along Uhuru Highway involving the accused’s Subaru car and a bodaboda rider.
Its alleged that the bodaboda rider was crying helplessly on the road before the officer quickly moved towards the accident scene and as he was helping the rider, the motorist attacked him thereby causing injury on him and at the same time damaging the officer’s mobile phone and tearing up his uniform.
The court released him on a cash bail of Ksh30,000.
