A court has declined suspect Anne Ngirita’s application for the Sh8 billion National Youth Service (NYS) scam case to be adjourned so she can get medical treatment. Ms Ngirita is one of the 37 suspects in the case.
Ms Ngirita sought the adjournment saying she needed to seek specialised treatment at Mater Hospital in Nairobi. Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti denied her request on Monday and instead asked the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the medical records she presented.
The DCI was asked to submit its report on the authenticity of the documents within three days. While pressing for the adjournment of the case, lawyer Migos Ogamba said Ms Ngirita was examined at a clinic in Naivasha, Nakuru County, on November 6.
Mr Ogamba said his client was to be reviewed on November 10.“She cannot sit for long as she will suffer a lot,” he said.
Another defence lawyer, Karathe Wandugi, said sickness should not be trivialised since a lawyer dropped dead in court last year when he stood to seek an adjournment on health grounds. In opposition, the prosecution said the name in the medical report presented to court was Anne Gichina.
“The names in the medical record do not rhyme with those of the accused –Anne Wambere Ngirita,” a state prosecutor said, adding the reports had not been signed by a doctor. The prosecution further said the reports did not state that the accused should be referred to a bigger hospital.
In the ruling, magistrate Ogoti noted “many disparities” in Ms Ngirita’s medical reports, including the lack of the name of the person who signed it.
He also noted the difference in the name and added that there was no mention of a referral. “I decline the plea to adjourn the case and direct that it proceeds with a hearing,” he directed.