Shinyalu MP Kizito charged with malicious damage to property, granted bail

MP Justus Kizito in court yesterday. [Mumo Munuve, Standard]

Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito was yesterday charged with malicious damage to property and resisting arrest.

Mr Kizito denied the charges before Kakamega Senior Resident Magistrate Noileen Akee.

The lawmaker, who spent Thursday night at the Kakamega Central Police Station following his arrest, was freed on a Sh50,000 cash bail.

The legislator and two other suspects were arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers who were acting on a warrant of arrest issued two months ago.

Through his lawyer Peter Samba, the MP pleaded with the court to grant him a free bond or a lesser fine because he is a public figure.

He argued that the court should maintain the cash bail of Sh50,000 he had been granted earlier before he was re-arrested.

The lawyer told the court that before his client’s arrest, the DCI was not aware that the MP had a cash bail of Sh50,000. Kizito is accused of damaging a family’s property including two semi-permanent houses and a wooden fence worth Sh200,000 in a land dispute at Vikutsa village in Shinyalu, Kakamega East.