DPP given five weeks to charge Julius Wambua afresh

The DPP has been given five weeks to decide if Julius Wambua will be charged afresh.

A Kithimani court has given the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) five weeks to decide if fresh charges will be pressed against former convict Julius Wambua, who was released last week by the High Court following a successful petition to overturn a wrongful conviction.

Senior Resident Magistrate Eva Wambugu on Monday directed that the mention for directions in the retrial of Wambua on alleged incest charges be conducted on January 25 next year.

The prosecution had sought for time to study Wambua’s case files as well as last week’s judgment delivered by Justice George Odunga in Machakos.

Wambua was convicted in 2012 by the same (Kithimani) court and sentenced to life imprisonment at Kamiti maximum security prison after being convicted of defiling his daughter.

His daughter, Dorcas Mwende, later recanted her testimony linking her father to the crime, prompting a petition by Wambua to have the punitive sentence quashed.

In his Judgment, Odunga released Wambua on Sh30,000 bail and ordered that he be tried afresh.

Julius Wambua's daughter Dorcas Mwende.