Standard Group Limited’s Chief of Staff Laban Cliff Onserio has filed a request to settle out of court in order to avoid being charged with possession of a hand grenade.
Through his lawyer Ishmael Nyaribo, the journalist wrote to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) seeking an alternative to prosecution.
According to the prosecution led by Jilo Guyo, “The matter is coming up for plea-taking. The accused through his counsel wrote to ODPP to consider an alternative to prosecution.We are considering the request and we need a week to take a decision on the request.”
Onserio who is currently out on a Sh100,000 cash bail was arrested on December 26 at the Holy Family Basilica basement by detectives who were called in by the church’s security guards after an altercation.
“(He) was arrested on 18/12/2022 by a multi-agency team who responded at the scene after receiving information through IC3 police control room that there was a terror threat at Holy Family Basilica,” reads court documents.
It is said that the journalist, who formerly served as Deputy Communications Director at State House’s Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), had gone to pick up his car – a Nissan X-trail registration number KDE 744A – at the cathedral’s commercial parking lot on Sunday morning.
During the quarrel, the guards called detectives who conducted a search on Onserio’s car, where they found a stun grenade.
Detectives say the journalist “could not give satisfactory reasons why he was in possession of the flash bang grenade” nor produce a certificate allowing him to be in possession of the device.