Court frees Kilifi DG Gideon Saburi against charges of willfully spreading COVID-19

A Mombasa court has dropped a case a case against Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi where he was accused of willfully spreading COVID-19 in  March 2020.

Delivering the ruling on Thursday, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti said the deputy governor did not interact with members of public intentionally to infect them as at the time he was being implicated last year, COVID-19 had not been declared a contagious disease in the country.

Saburi was accused of committing the offence between March 6 and March 22, 2020 after returning to Kenya from one of the countries affected by COVID-19 at the time.

The government had ordered that any person entering the country from a destination with confirmed cases of coronavirus should proceed on self quarantine.

It would however emerge that Saburi ignored the precautionary measure and went ahead to attend several weddings and funerals.

The deputy governor was apprehended and charged with wilfully spreading the novel coronavirus by going out in public without taking precautions, allegations he denied.

“Gideon Saburi … within Kilifi County … while suffering from an infectious disease, namely COVID-19, wilfully and unlawfully, without taking any precaution, exposed yourself to the public,” the charge sheet read in court said.