Rose Njeri freed after court rules charges pressed against her were "defective"

Rose Njeri (wrapped in the Kenyan flag) outside the Milimani Law court after she was discharged of the a cybercrime offence on June 20, 2025. (Photo: Carolyne Kubwa)

By Carolyne Kubwa
Friday, June 20, 2025

Njeri had been arrested on May 30, 2025, following a police raid on her home and was subsequently charged under Section 16 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, with "unauthorised interference with a computer system."

A Nairobi court has discharged Rose Njeri, a software developer and civic activist, who was facing charges of cyber harassment and computer misuse.

The court ruled that the charges pressed against her were "defective".

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Njeri had been arrested on May 30, 2025, following a police raid on her home and was subsequently charged under Section 16 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018, with "unauthorised interference with a computer system."

The charges stemmed from her development of an online platform that enabled citizens to send emails to the National Assembly's Finance Committee to express their views on the controversial Finance Bill, 2025.

In a ruling delivered by Milimani principal magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo on Friday, the court found that the charges which Njeri was to plead to were defective, hence her acquittal.

The magistrate further said that the court was guided by a Statute under the Constitution which states that every person has a right to a fair trial and the charges before him failed to disclose Njeri’s alleged offence.

"In light of the same statutes, I hereby refuse to admit the two counts of charges against the suspect. She is hereby discharged under Section 890(5) of the Constitution that requires disclosure of the offence", the magistrate ruled.

Rose Njeri before the Milimani Law court, where she was discharged of the cybercrime offence on June 20, 2025. (Photo: Carolyne Kubwa)

In May, Njeri was released on a personal bond of Sh100,000 after being arraigned in court.

This is after her lawyers urged the court to dismiss the charges and release her on free bond.

The defence team, led by Kalonzo Musyoka and Eric Theuri and former Supreme Court President David Maraga, prayed the court to object to the plea taking against Njeri, saying they do not understand how to respond to the charges.

In his submissions, former Law Society of Kenya LSK president Eric Theuri said that the alleged email that was used by the suspect was created by the Parliament for the members of the public for the memorandum in support or opposition to the Finance Bill 2025.

"Your honour, we fail to understand how to respond to the charge since the email used originated from the government, and that means any person who sent an email to the same is a victim," Theuri submitted.

He told the court that the Njeri responded to the government as it was the bottom line when the Parliament created the email.

Theuri insisted that the Njeri used the email for the purpose it was created for, to the contrary that she violated the constitution, and they failed to understand how to advise the suspect either to plead guilty to the charges or not.