DPP drops charges against clergy who allegedly spread Covid-19 virus knowingly

By Mourice Seretta

The Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, Noordin Haji on Thursday withdrew a case filed against a Catholic priest from Siaya County who was accused of allegedly knowingly spreading the Covid-19 disease in the country.

The DPP applied that the Kilimani Criminal Investigation Officer failed to produce witnesses in the case 9 times thereby prompting the court to adjourn the hearing of the case several times.

The case was withdrawn under section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code which permits the prosecutor to apply before the court seized of the case to withdraw charges facing an accused person at any time before final Judgement.

Father Richard Oduor who is based in Rome was charged at the Milimani Law Courts in April this year and released on a cash bail of Ksh.150,000 or Ksh.500,000 bond after denying the charge.

It was alleged that Fr. Oduor returned to the country from Rome on March 11 and spent a day at Utawala in Nairobi before traveling home on March 13 where he conducted the burial of a close relative and later returned to Nairobi and exhibited symptoms of the disease prompting his admission to hospital where he tested positive and was placed under quarantine.

The priest would later be arrested and prosecuted for failing to self-quarantine as was required of any person who had just arrived into the country at the time when the pandemic had just hit Kenya.

He was accused of transmitting the virus to several people as he moved around the country.