Disobedience of court orders during the arrest of Moses Kuria over assault allegations early last year have come to haunt the State after senior officers of Kilimani police station are summoned.
Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot issued the summons to have Kilimani DCIO Fatuma Hadi, deputy sub-county police commander Aden Mohamed and deputy OCS Martin Fwambwa appear in court in person on September 9 to explain why they defied a court order.
This is after MP Kuria through lawyer Geoffrey Omenke filed contempt of court proceedings against the three senior officers for failing to comply with a court order to have him released from police cells pending his prosecution after the court ordered his release after paying a cash bail of Ksh50,000.
“Despite being duly served with the said order and notice of penal consequences, the police failed and refused to comply and persisted in such refusal. That blatant refusal to obey a valid court order is in contempt of court and punishable by law,” MP Kuria says.
He now wants officers Fatuma, Mohamed, Fwambwa jailed for defying court orders.
“That an order of committal be made against the three officers to prison for such a period as the court may seem fit for contempt of court,” Kuria adds.
The MP moved to court on the day he was arrested seeking orders compelling police to release him from the cells so as not to spend the weekend in custody awaiting taking plea for allegedly assaulting TV commentator Joyce Wanja.
The move to have Kuria file an application in court seeking to be bailed out came after the officers declined to grant him a police bond being on a Friday to enable him attend court on Monday January 13,2020.
The MP had been arrested on January 10,2020 at around 7:45am in Westlands by officers from DCI Kilimani police station and taken to Kilimani police station where he was locked up.
In his contempt of court papers, the MP adds that on the same date at around 9:00am Kuria together with his lawyer requested to be taken to court for plea taking but the DCIO refused and instead informed me that she was awaiting further instructions.
He adds that it’s around 1400hrs that one of his lawyers moved to court to seek orders for my release on bond pending arraignment in court to answer assault charges.
“That the court gave such orders that l be released upon posting a bail of Ksh 50,000 and that l be arraigned in court on January 13,2020,” Kuria says.
He further adds “that the orders were served to the DCIO Fatuma Hadi and deputy OCS Kilimani police station by my Advocates on record who upon receiving verified with the court and which was confirmed it was genuine.”
However, the officers are said to continue holding the MP even after they verified the court order without giving him any reason.
“Upon proper verification the deputy OCS informed me and my advocates that he was awaiting further instructions from Fatuma and Mohamed and the county commander who had apparently sanctioned my arrest,” Kuria says.
“One of my advocate upon inquiry from Mohamed on why the order can not be executed yet it had been verified, he vehemently told my lawyer that it (court order) was ‘a stupid piece of document’ and that they would not act on it until he so wishes or directs,” the MP said.
It is said that Mohamed thus proceeded to issue orders to use tear gas canisters and other crude weapons to beat up some of Kuria’s colleagues in the Senate, National Assembly and his family members who had come to see me at the station.
He argues that when all efforts became futile, his lawyers requested to have an audience with him for advice and further instructions but we’re denied access and instead they were harrassed, assaulted and tear gassed and chased out of the police station
“That the said order was totally disobeyed and thus my continued detention ostensibly by what was being referred as to “orders from above”, and it is only on the January 11,2020 at around 2100 hours when l was released on the some new bail conditions that had apparently been issued by the purported above person who instructed my release on police bond,” says Kuria
The MP further says that when his advocate inquired the reason why he could not be released on the terms that had been set by the court but we were informed that they will not recognize or deal on such orders.
“Even after paying Ksh 50,000 cash bail, l was given another police cash bail of Ksh 20,000 and required to attend court on January 13,2020, on which date he diligently attended court accompanied by his lawyer and pleaded not guilty to the assault charges,” the MP says.
Kuria was charged with assaulting political analyst and commentator Wanja at Inooro studios at royal media premises.
However, the assault charges were dropped against MP Kuria after Wanja forgave him.
