The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution has suffered another blow in the for CS Rashid Echesa case after the High Court ordered DPP Noordin Hajji to release a Range Rover and two firearms belonging to Echesa.
Hajji appealed the ruling of the magistrate issued last month that ordered his office to give the former CS his car and two firearms back.
High Court Judge Justice Luka Kimaru on Wednesday dismissed Hajji's appeal for lack of merit. The DPP felt aggrieved by tSenior Principal Magistrate Kenneth Cheruiyot's ruling on June 4 that directed police to release two firearms and the high end car. “ The court upon evaluating the facts of this application, formed the view that the magistrate did not err in law when he ordered the police to release the said property to Echesa,” Kimaru said in a ruling. Justice Kimaru explained that continued detention of the said firearms and car by the police amounts to contempt of the orders issued by a Kakamega court which the DPP did not dispute their existence.
“The DPP or the police can make appropriate application before that court to set aside the order but so long as that order is still in force, the police have no option but to comply with the same and release the firearms to Echesa,” Kimaru added. DP William Ruto and Rashid Echesa in a past photo. [p/courtesy]The court found no legal justification for the continued detention of the said car and guns and therefore the said property must be returned to Echesa without further ado.
Justice Kimaru clarified that Echesa had produced an affidavit from the dealer who sold him who also confirmed that Echesa paid for the car in full.
In February Echesa was accused and charged with six counts including falsifying documents in the Sh39.5 bill fake arms deal. On June 4 while demanding his car back, he argued that use of public transport is exposing him to risk of being infected by the coronavirus.
Embattled Echesa was fired by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2019 and he blamed ODM leader Raila Odinga for his sacking.