Stephen Onyango in the dock at the Makadara law courts
A man charged with threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend after she moved on with another man pleaded guilty to the charges but made a U-turn and denied them, and asked for time to reconcile with the complainant to evade going to jail.
Stephen Onyango had admitted issuing death threats to Lilian Akinyi, in contravention of section 223 (1) of the Penal Code in Riverside Estate within Ruaraka Sub County, Nairobi on July 25.
The statement of charge includes insults that Onyango allegedly hurled at Akinyi.
Onyango is accused of threatening to kill Akinyi if she doesn’t separate with her current husband and he had admitted the charge before senior resident magistrate Stephany Bett of Makadara law courts.
He however changed his plea and denied the charges to have time for reconciliation and possible withdrawal of the case against him, after learning the offence of issuing death threats carries a stiffer penalty including a lengthy jail term.
Onyango was released on a cash bail of Sh20,000 and an alternative bond of Sh50,000 before the case is mentioned on October 10 for a pretrial if the matter will not have been settled out of court.
The accused person had met the complainant in the Riverside area walking with her husband and confronted both where he allegedly hurled the expletives at her.
The matter was reported at Ruaraka police station and during investigations, police established that Onyango had previously sent abusive messages to Akinyi through mobile phone text messages. Police traced the suspect to the Kware area in Embakasi where he was arrested.
There are only three witnesses in the case including Akinyi, her husband and the police officer who investigated the case. Onyango had told Ms Bett that he is remorseful and regrets his actions, saying he hopes Akinyi will forgive him and withdraw the case.
