Witness says he received hush money multiple times » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 — The second prosecution witness in the trial case of lawyer Paul Gicheru, who is facing witness tampering charges at the ICC, on Tuesday told the trial judge he was given money on several occasions from an individual identified in court as ‘person 19’ who was in the company of Gicheru, so as to withdraw his cooperation from the court.

The witness who gave his testimony in Swahili with the help of an English translation concealed some names of people involved and meeting locations as part of witness protection measures.

“The first time I met person (19) he was with Mr. Gicheru at location number (5). He gave me money many times,” the witness codenamed P0431 said during cross-examination by the prosecutor.

Witness P0431 said said person 19 also inquired about other witnesses who had testimonies at the court, so as to also have them withdraw.

“He asked several times about person (9), person (38) was also mentioned and I told him I don’t know if he was a witness,” stated the witness.

“He asked me if person (43) was meeting with the ‘white people’. He also asked if I knew parents of person (37), there are others I can’t recall,” he added.

The prosecutor put the witness to task as to why person 19 was asking him about particular individuals involved in the ICC case.

“He thought I might I have an influential person who can convince them to withdraw from being ICC witnesses,” he replied.

The witness also alleged threats from person (19), saying at some point he feared for his life.

“I remember he once threatened us that he will kill us if we revealed anything that we discussed there and I felt threatened,” he said.

Gicheru is facing 8 charges of witness bribery and intimidation in what the Prosecution said was an attempt to sabotage the case against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang.

He denied all the charges during the opening of the trial on February 15, 2022.

The prosecution, during its opening remarks, said they will be presenting evidence of phone records and transactions to confirm that Gicheru acted to prevent witnesses from testifying and coerced them to recant their statements.

The prosecution said they will present evidence showing how Gicheru, while operating from his office in Eldoret, decided which witnesses will be targeted and how much money they will be given.

The prosecution also submitted that Gicheru was to lead the witnesses in signing legal documents to cease cooperation with the court.