Itumbi 'Ruto assassination plot': Witness who withdrew from case charged

The witness who filed an application to withdraw in the Dennis Itumbi case has been charged with creating a document without lawful authority.

Samwel Gateri allegedly made a document that is a letter dated May 30 purporting to have been signed by a cabinet secretary in the fake Deputy President William Ruto assassination letter.

He was also charged with publishing a false statement with the intent of causing anxiety to the general public.

Gateri denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi and was released on a Sh100,000 cash bail.


The case will be heard on November 13.

Gateri was arrested on Tuesday by DCI officers at a Nairobi hotel where he was in a meeting with his lawyer Goergiadis Majimbo and taken to Shauri Moyo Police Station.

According to the lawyer, the officers arrived at the hotel in two cars, did not introduce themselves nor state the reason why they arrested Gateri.

Last week, the DCI dismissed claims that Gateri was among the state witnesses lined up to testify in Itumbi's case.

Through its Twitter handle, the DCI said Gateri is a man under investigation and at no point was he lined up as a state witness.

However, Gateri's name was among the names listed by the prosecution in the charge sheet against Itumbi.

Gateri had previously told the court that police officers had forced him to admit he had talked to Deputy President William Ruto in Itumbi's La Mada Hotel assassination plot case.