Cabinet Affairs PS Julius Korir has denied that he assaulted his estranged wife Evelyn Koech in 2020 and urged the court to acquit him.
Taking to the stand to defend himself on Tuesday, Korir said the allegations were not true and that the charges against him were of settling a score or personal vendetta against him.
Korir told Milimani senior principal magistrate Dolphina Alego that at the time he is alleged to have assaulted Koech, they were separated and she had already moved out of their matrimonial home.
“Your honour, I got married to the complainant in June 2014 and our marriage ran into difficulties. We separated but lived under the same roof. The complainant moved out of the house around 2019,” Korir told the court.
He added that shortly after that, she moved to children’s court for custody of the kids and also prayed for child support in 2020.
In 2021 she filed for divorce at Milimani law court and the marriage was dissolved in December 2021.
“The complainant was given full custody of the children. I was only granted supervised visitation which I felt aggrieved and appealed. She didn’t like that I complained about seeing my children and saw me as a violent person.
“In my opinion, the case is because I appealed the decision of the children’s court to remove the restrictions when accessing the children,” he narrated to the court.
He testified that shortly after that, he was summoned to the Karen police station to record a statement on the access of the children. That was in 2022.
At the time of the allegations of assault, Korir said they were no longer living together.
When asked by his lawyer about the CCTV footage that was taken from his house showing him assaulting Koech, Korir said there was no CCTV in the house and he didn’t know where the video that was played in court came from.
“When were living together, I don’t remember having a CCTV camera and when I saw the video in court, it did not show my face. The investigating officer did not also clearly indicate where he got the CCTV footage from as I don’t recall anyone coming for the CCTV footage in the house,” the court was told.