A Voi court yesterday dropped criminal charges against Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko after the complainant withdrew the case.
Sonko appeared before Voi Senior Resident Magistrate Fredrick Nyakundi on Tuesday and yesterday to take plea on assault charges levelled against him.
On Tuesday, Sonko’s lead counsel Cecil Miller told the court that the chief complainant in the case, Coast Regional Police Commander Rashid Yakub, was seeking to withdraw the case against the governor.
Sonko was charged with three counts of resisting police arrest, assault and disorderly conduct when police arrested him at Ikanga airstrip in Voi Sub-county in Taita Taveta County on December 6 last year over graft allegations.
The court said it had dropped the case against the governor after considering an application by the deputy public prosecutor.
Nyakundi said the application had merit.
“The State has lost interest in the case and I hereby discharge the case in line with Article 157 of the Constitution,” the magistrate ruled yesterday as Sonko’s supporters celebrated outside the court.
Immediately the ruling was made, Sonko and his supporters held prayers outside the court premises.
“It is a miracle from God. We have seen the hand of God,” said a female pastor who led the prayers.
Police had erected a roadblock leading to the court and frisked members of the public.
Dozens of residents who had turned up for the case were barred as the court room was too small.
Last month, the governor failed to present himself in court to answer to the assault charges.
His lawyers told the magistrate that their client was sick and unable to attend the court as directed.
Graft charges
Sonko was arrested on December 6 and flown to Nairobi to face graft charges. It was during the arrest that a scuffle ensued between him and police.
Police officers, including Yakub, alleged Sonko assaulted them as they tried to arrest him.
Yakub and three other police officers had been listed to testify against the governor.
Last month, the embattled governor was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts where he denied 19 counts of corruption.
He was released on a Sh15 million cash bail.
