The estranged wife of Meru Senator Marrianne Jebet Kitany told the court that she first met the controversial politician Mithika Linturi in the Deputy President’s (DP) office in 2013.
The former chief of staff in the DP’s office took the witness box to testify over the disputed marriage which the senator denies existed.
Kitany further claimed that the relationship between her and the senator turned romantic after the DP Ruto strictly instructed her to deal with Linturi’s regular complaints which were many.
According to Kitany, Senator Linturi who was then a lawmaker representing Igembe South constituency seduced her when the DP sent her to persuade the senator to drop an impeachment motion he had tabled against the former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.
Kitany who is battling a divorce case with the senator also said that the day the senator was to table the impeachment motion in parliament, the two were ‘having a good time’ in Naivasha.
“When the impeachment Motion was first tabled in Parliament, Linturi and I were at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge having a good time,” Kaitany told Chief Magistrate Peter Gisore.
She further testified that Linturi did introduce his four children born from different mothers and she did the same by also introducing to him her siblings at the lodge.
In her testimony on Wednesday, Kitany told the court how the two were married in a customary Meru and Nandi wedding ceremony and how Linturi paid dowry and gave money to Kitany’s family.
The senator has denied exchanging vows with Kitany.
In December 2018, Kitany filed for divorce in Meru, accusing the senator of infidelity, bigamy, and mistreatment. However, the court said the divorce could not happen since Linturi was married to his third wife Mercy Kaimenyi.
“He was not married to any other woman and even produced a document showing Andrew that is a judgment of a marriage that is the marriage that he had was dissolved. The document was given back to Linturi,” said Kaitany during the cross-examining in court.
Linturi has claimed his estranged wife Kitany forged papers showing he divorced his other wife.
Linturi’s lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu told the trial Magistrate that the Senator has never married another woman for the last 18 years, safe for his first wife.
He further told trial the magistrate that divorce is only brought up to take away what he has invested for many years.
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