Court to decide on ‘deal’ over Saitoti son

Sebastian Ngunju and his wife Elizabeth Maina at Milimani Law Courts, Friday. The couple claims that Saitoti’s adopted son is their biological son. [PHOTOS: FIDELIS KABUNYI/STANDARD]

By PAMELA  CHEPKEMEI

Nairobi, Kenya: Consent to end a case over parental dispute of the son of late Cabinet minister George Saitoti was reached to avoid criminal charges being preferred against a couple claiming that their child was stolen.

State Counsel Warui Mungai told High Court judge Isaac Lenaola that the decision by the parties in the case to reach an agreement was arrived at because the couple would have been charged in court.

Mungai was presenting arguments during the hearing of an application filed by the couple, Sebastian Ngunju and Elizabeth Njeri, to set aside the consent entered last year.

The State Counsel from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions told the court that after investigations were conducted and concluded as ordered by DPP, the couple would have been charged.

“The effect of the investigations was that the couple would have been charged with certain offences. They were advised by their lawyer and the consent signed,” said Mungai.

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But the couple’s lawyer Laban Osoro told the court that the consent was reached without their knowledge.

Osoro argued that there is no valid consent because the one in court was done without the express permission of the couple.

He added that the couple did not participate in the process that resulted in the consent being reached.

However, the lawyer who represented the couple then, Harry Gakinya, said the couple was involved throughout to the point when the consent was adopted in court.

“The interested party (couple) was duly aware and informed of the discussions that culminated in that consent,” said Gakinya.

Mungai added that the private prosecution filed by the couple in a Nakuru magistrate’s court lacked merit because the DPP had directed that investigations be done.

The trial judge Isaac Lenaola will on May 23 decide if the consent will be revoked or not.

The late Prof Saitoti and his assistant, Orwa Ojode, perished in a grisly helicopter accident in Ngong in June 2012.

He was the Minister of Internal Security.

After his death a couple from Nakuru claimed that Saitoti family had stolen their son.