DPP Keriako Tobiko wants magistrate out of terror case

The Government has demanded the removal of the presiding magistrate in the trial of four suspected Al Shabaab brides. It accused Senior Principal Magistrate Simon Rotich of being biased and refusing to allow production of prosecution evidence without his prior scrutiny.

Mr Rotich is presiding over the trial of Kenyans Maryam Said Aboud, Khadija Abdulkadir Abubakar, Halima Adan Ali and Ummul Khayr Sadir Abdalla from Zanzibar. The suspects referred to as ‘jihadi brides’ were accused of having links with Al Shabaab.

But Rotich said he was being unfairly accused by the Government of rushing the trial and questioned the motive of his accusers.

The defence also argued the State had not provided valid reasons for the disqualification of the magistrate.

VIDEO CLIPS

Relations between Rotich and the State prosecutors have plummeted since last week after he stopped the prosecution from producing video clips police claimed they recovered from the defendants.

Rotich said he wanted to view the clips before the State could produce them and cross-examine the suspects. However, State lawyers objected.

The magistrate alarmed the prosecution when he claimed he had watched incendiary clips including the massacre of Kenya’s soldiers at El Adde in Somalia.

Yesterday, prosecutor Eric Masila asked Rotich to disqualify himself from the case. “I have directions to make an application to have you disqualify yourself from this matter,” said Mr Masila.