The conclusion of lawyer Willie Kimani's murder case has been blamed on the defence.
“I can say without hesitation that we should have completed with case latest in 2018 but no, we are now seated here in a cold tent with Covid-19 hovering all around us,” Justice Jessie Lessit said.
This was in reference to a third bid this week by the defence to apply for bail.
Lessit laid the blame squarely on the defence team, noting that new delaying tactics had been applied since 2018.
“In 2017 we had 34 witnesses in the case while in 2018 we only had two witnesses excluding the ones in the trial-within- trial,” the judge said.
She said the defence should not raise the issue of the delay as it is 99 per cent to blame.
“It is very clear to this court that there has been heightened efforts to derail these proceedings,” the judge said and likened the delay to President Uhuru Kenyatta's complaint during the BBI report launch that his deputy was running in the opposite direction from the (race) button.
“While we were all walking briskly towards the finish line of this trial in 2017, some of us in 2018 started walking on their heels. How fast can you walk this way?” Lessit asked.
“At the same point, we heard the screeching sound and as if that is not enough, the said side grabbed the gavel and to the amazement of all present took off at top speed running in the opposite direction,” she said and ruled that bond can still be negotiated.
She said nothing gave her greater joy than granting the accused bail "but at this stage, it will be interpreted to mean that I am rewarding indolence”.
Police officers Clement King'ori Mwangi, Fredrick Leliman, Leonard Mwangi, Silvia Wanjiku and Stephen Chebulet have denied killing lawyer Kimani in Machakos.
Another accused is Peter Ngugi, whose application for DNA evidence to be struck out was dismissed.
Lessit suspended the bail application until a pre-bail social inquiry report is brought to her.
On the issue of Covid-19 fears, she said the accused will be taken care of by the Prisons department.
Ngugi had claimed that police did not have his consent before getting his DNA samples for the analysis.
The judge said the court has a duty to analyse the entire evidence and the purpose of the examination and analysis includes drawing a conclusion on various aspects of the case.
“The work of the court does not end at the admission of the evidence; that is when the work of a judge begins,” the court ruled.
- mwaniki fm