Naivasha Court of Appeal Chief Magistrate Nathan Lutta has acquitted Joshua Waiganjo of nearly 10 charges against him.
The charges include two charges of robbery with violence, illegal possession of a police uniform, and four counts of impersonating senior police officers.
In 2013, Waiganjo impersonated senior police officers and issued orders to juniors in Rift Valley and parts of Nairobi.
Waiganjo, who once purported to have been stationed at the Anti-Stock Theft Police Headquarters in Gilgil, was first charged in 2013, but the case collapsed as some witnesses failed to appear in court.
Some of the evidence also went missing as the case involving senior police officers in Rift Valley moved from one court to another.
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The matter largely mentioned Former Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner John M’Mbijiwe and former Anti-Stock Theft Police Commander Michael Ngugi.
In a separate case, the two were charged together with the senior police officers who have since passed on being charged with being accomplices to Waiganjo.
It was said that they allowed Waiganjo to dress in police uniforms, gave him unlimited access to a police vehicle, and even assigned him a police driver.
On Thursday, Lutta noted that Waiganjo had been released in 2017 through a ruling by the court of appeal.
The Magistrate said that in 2015, Waiganjo was acquitted of some of the charges, but he was jailed for five years for impersonating a police officer, one year for dressing in police uniform, and six months each for three charges of having government stores.
The accused person appealed through the High Court in Naivasha and later opted for the Court of Appeal in 2017.
The High Court in Naivasha ordered a retrial ch ordered for a retrial, but Waiganjo moved to the Court of Appeal in 2017 which in turn dismissed the case in totality.
The three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal observed that the High Court's order for a retrial in Naivasha lacked legal basis.
“Waiganjo was dissatisfied by the outcome in the high court after the prosecution made an application to have the case withdrawn under section 87(a), he declined this raising fears that he could be rearrested,” the Magistrate stated.
Lutta observed that the Court of directed that the accused person be set free and his court was bound to acquit him under section 210 of the CPC.
“The court is bound by the doctrine of stare decisis and the accused is hereby released,” said the Magistrate.
