Court Acquits Student Accused Of Posting Ruto In A Casket, Cites Lack Of Evidence

A Milimani court has acquitted a Moi University student accused of publishing a misleading image on X suggesting the death of President William Ruto, citing glaring gaps in the prosecution’s evidence.

Principal Magistrate Caroline Nyaguthi on Thursday freed David Mokaya under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

In her judgment, the magistrate said the court had carefully considered submissions from both the prosecution and the defence, as well as the testimony of six prosecution witnesses. However, she found that none of the evidence conclusively linked Mokaya to the offending post.

“The prosecution failed to establish a nexus between the accused and the social media account in question,” the court ruled.

The magistrate noted that there was no forensic or digital evidence, such as login records or device data, to show that Mokaya authored or uploaded the post.

The court heard that Mokaya’s account was allegedly used for marketing purposes and was shared with three other individuals who were never called as witnesses.

This, the magistrate observed, created reasonable doubt as to who actually accessed or operated the account at the material time.

Further weakening the prosecution’s case was evidence on the accused’s location. While the alleged offence was said to have been committed in Nairobi, Mokaya resides in Eldoret and was arrested there.

The investigating officer admitted under cross-examination that he could not verify the origin, source, or geographic location of the post.

The officer also confirmed that the student’s personal data had been obtained from a mobile network provider, later identified in court as Safaricom.

However, he was unable to confirm whether the SIM card linked to the account had been properly registered or whether unverified numbers had been deregistered at the time.

The defence strongly challenged the integrity of the investigation, arguing that the prosecution failed to call key witnesses, including the complainant, and relied on unverified telecom data.

“If it is a very old number, anybody could have been issued one,” the defence submitted.

In a pointed remark, the magistrate faulted the decision to prosecute, warning that cases touching on the presidency must be handled with caution and free from public or political pressure.

She added that the court could not rule out the possibility that the post was fabricated.

The ruling has reignited debate on digital privacy, freedom of expression, and compliance with the Data Protection Act of 2019, which sets strict standards on the handling of personal data in Kenya.