Court acquits two scribes over willful obstruction charges

The two journalists who were charged with willful obstruction of police from conducting their work.

A Bondo court on Wednesday freed two journalists who were charged with willful obstruction of police from conducting their work.

Principal Magistrate Edwin Wasike said Brian Ondeng (Kenya News Agency) and Geoffrey Oguma (Radio Nam Lolwe) we acquitted under section 215 of the Criminal Procedures Act.

In the judgment, Wasike stated that the charge by the prosecution failed to meet the threshold of the willful obstruction of police in discharging their duties according to Section 103 of Police Act.

“I have carefully considered both the submissions by the prosecution and the defence and concluded that the two journalists were only curious about the incidence and had the intentions to cover the arrests where a shylock was being arrested and therefore had no intention to obstruct the police,” said Wasike in his ruling.

He also stated that the prosecution did not prove that there were facts of evidence to prove physical obstruction by the journalists on the police.

It was alleged that in December 2018, the two journalists were arrested in Bondo town and assaulted by the police after they had gone to cover the recovery of auctioned goods by a shylock firm in the town.

While welcoming the ruling, the acquitted scribes told The Standard that they are consulting their lawyer on the next course of action.