BY SAM ALFAN.
A trader who gave false information to the police claiming his former workmate forged academic papers and was later charged has been set free by a Nairobi court.
Alexander Irungu Wanjiru was freed by the court saying the police should have dropped the matter after finding out that the allegations that Joseph Kabugu forged his academic papers.
Senior Principal Magistrate James Omburah added that there is no evidence that Kabugu made a complaint that Wanjiru had made false allegations against him.
The city magistrate said the police should have left Kabugu and Wanjiru battle in a civil case.
“Following all the above findings I am not convinced at all that the prosecution has proved its case against the accused to the required standard of proving their case beyond any reasonable doubt and I accordingly acquit the accused of the charge under section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code(CPC),” the Magistrate ruled.
Wanjiru had been accused of giving the false information to Sergeant Sevelina Kalunge at DCI Headquarters.
Wanjiru was charged with the offence of giving false information to a person employed in the public service. He was represented by lawyer Soyinka Lempaa
It was alleged that on 28 th day of November, 2019, at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Headquarters in Nairobi County, he wilfully gave false information to Kalunge.
He claimed that Kabugu forged his KCE certificate to gain admission for certificate course at Shinners Technical college within Muranga County.
The police officer investigated the matter and made inquiries to various institutions including the Kenya National Examination Council.
He denied the charge and the prosecution in a bid to prove its case called a total of three witnesses.
Prosecution’s case was that Kalunge was allocated a matter by her boss to investigate concerning a complaint made by the accused on 3 rd June , 2019.
Wanjiru wrote a reminder on 4th November, 2019 over the same issue over and recorded a statement claiming that Kabugu was pursuing a degree course at Mt Kenya University using forged documents.
According to the prosecution, Kabugu never completed his secondary education.
Kabugu was summoned to the DCI offices with his original certificates.
Other than Knec, the police officer wrote to the principal of Shinners College, which confirmed that the certificate was genuine.
Kabugu who testified in the case said he sat for KCE examinations at Miharati Secondary School in 1983 and obtained a certificate the following year.
He later wanted to do a degree course but was advised to do a diploma course at Shinners college and they referred him to do a certificate course at Michuki Technical College in Kangema which he declined because he wanted a diploma course.
He later joined Mt Kenya University for a diploma course and thereafter enrolled for a degree course finally graduating in 2021.
He later learnt that Wanjiru had written a letter to the DCI Nairobi claiming he had forged his form four certificate.
The two had worked at Family Heritage in Muranga between 2016 to 2018 but Kabugu did not know how the accused came to know about his academic details.
Wanjiru said they worked together at Kimkan Health Services where Kabugu was the hospital manager and one of the directors.
He worked at the hospital for two years and opted not to renew his contract thereby leaving the hospital at the expiry of his contract on 31 st May 2019.
He admitted that he wrote a letter to the DCI following a conversation within Muranga town that Kabugu had dropped his certificate course he was doing at Shinners college abruptly under unclear circumstances because he did not have a form four certificate.
He said his intention of writing to the DCI was an innocent inquiry for information since Kabugu had also requested him to invest in Unitas Sacco by buying shares.
He stated that his inquiries did not contemplate any adverse action being taken against Kabugu as they never had any personal differences.
