A suspect accused of spreading false information about former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has told the court that his X (formerly Twitter) account was used without his knowledge to publish the controversial post.
Silvance Adongo Abeta is alleged to have posted claims suggesting that, based on information from National Intelligence Service (NIS) sources, the former Deputy President planned to pay assassins Ksh 230 million to eliminate Hon. Ndindi Nyoro.
During a hearing before Magistrate Dolphina Alego, Police Constable Samuel Kamau from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ Serious Crimes Unit testified that he was assigned to investigate the matter on September 4, 2023, after the divisive information was shared through an X account allegedly linked to Abeta.
PC Kamau stated that he traced the phone number associated with the account, and investigations confirmed it belonged to the accused. He also presented to the court a mobile phone and a SIM card believed to have been used to publish the post in question.
However, under cross-examination, the officer admitted that he did not carry out any quantitative or qualitative analysis to determine the impact of the post on the reputation of the former Deputy President or on national security.
When asked whether it was possible that someone else could have accessed the X account and made the post to frame the accused, PC Kamau conceded that such a scenario was indeed possible.
Abeta further claimed in court that he was coerced into signing a consent form authorizing police to examine his phone. He argued that by the time he was shown the document, the phone had already been accessed and searched by authorities. He requested that the court remove the contested consent from the official record.
The case is scheduled to resume on July 3, 2025.
