Kericho lawyer seeks Sh10 million damages from NTSA over traffic charge

A lawyer wants the Government to pay him Sh10 million after the prosecution failed to prove a speeding charge against him.

Former Rift Valley Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Chairman Kipkoech Ngetich accused the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) of maliciously damaging his reputation after the case was withdrawn without any evidence being presented in court.

Mr Ngetich had been charged with driving at a speed of 114km/h along the Nakuru-Kericho highway against a compulsory maximum speed limit of 100km/h. He denied the charge.

But when the case came up for hearing before Kericho Senior Resident magistrate Catherine Mungania, police failed to turn up for the hearing twice.

They also failed to provide the court with the manufacturer's prospectus of the speed gun which was used to record the alleged speeding incident or the gadget's maintenance charts.

The police failures forced Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko to withdraw the case under Article 87 (A) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Board orders NTSA to issue PSV license to firm
• 
  Firm linked to fake fertiliser calls for arrest of Linturi, NCPB boss
• 
  Mental sickness to blame for increased road carnage, says NTSA
• 
  Ruto's orders to CS Murkomen over increased road accidents

Upon the withdrawal of the case, Ngetich through his advocate Thaddeaus Nyaingiri, moved to the Kericho High Court for the case review before Judge Mumbi Ngugi.

"We are going to challenge the legality of the charges and we hope that the High Court will be able to adequately address it in terms of the law. We want to know whether the charges against my client were legal or illegal," said Nyaingiri.

The advocate added that they will argue before the court that speed guns in the country are illegal tools used by the NTSA to solicit bribes from innocent road users.

"If the police could be able to bring false charges against my client, an advocate of repute and law abiding citizen, there must be more innocent Kenyans who have been persecuted over the same offence," said Nyaingiri.

They want Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet to be enjoined in the case.

"There is more than meets the eye over the speed guns. The gadgets cannot indicate the section of highway an alleged speeding motorist was driving on and what the speed limit on that particular road is," said Nyaingiri.