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DCI now turns ‘state witness’ into ‘suspect’ in Itumbi case

By Amina Wako September 2nd, 2019 1 min read

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has come out to denounce a certain Samwel Gateri as a state witness in the ongoing case against blogger Dennis Itumbi.

DCI’s claim came on Monday afternoon just hours after Gateri filed an application before the Milimani Law Courts withdrawing himself as a witness.

In the case, Itumbi has been accused of authoring the infamous ‘assassination letter’ which detailed a plot by some senior leaders in government to eliminate Deputy President William Ruto.

Gateri has cited threats to his life, including an attempted kidnapping, as grounds for his intention to withdraw himself from the case.

However, the DCI in their response termed Gateri’s claims as false and misleading.

SUSPECT

The DCI further denied that Gateri is a state witness, stating that he is actually a suspect under investigations.

“We wish to clarify that contrary to insinuation by one Samwel Gateri that he’s a state witness in respect to criminal case against one @OleItumbi is false & misleading,” DCI tweeted.

But contrary to the DCI’s statement, a police charge sheet received in court on July 22, 2019 and seen by Nairobi News, lists Gateri as a state witness in the case.

Gateri’s name is the first on the list of witnesses, the other two being of a certain Sergeant Ruto and a certain Corporal Yvonne.

The charge sheet further states that other state witnesses will be stated.