Four Sigalagala Polytechnic students on incitement charges freed

Sigalagala institute in Kakamega where four students were charged with nine counts bordering on incitement. A kakamega court dismissed the charges for lacking merit after the prosecution failed to prove its case. Picture:Robert Amalemba/Standard

Four Sigalagala Polytechnic students were yesterday acquitted of incitement charges.

A Kakamega court ruled that the prosecution failed to nail them on nine charges bordering on incitement.

Patrick Imbosi (former students' head), Allan Kasiti, Dominic Momanyi and Shitandi Washington, had been accused that on July 30, 2015 within the institution, they incited other students to attack the polytechnic's principal, Bernadette Canute, by uttering, "Canute must go, she has killed."

They were also accused of wrongfully linking the death of Ignatius Mutoka (an immediate former deputy principal of Sigalagala) to Canute.

The four also faced charges of malicious damage to glass windows at the institution valued at Sh2, 000, locking the principal and staff in the school compound, illegally using the polytechnic bus and undermining Canute's governing authority.

Resident Magistrate Benson Khapoya dismissed the charges and ordered them refunded bond.