Lead image for Court orders TikToker arrested for skipping Sh500,000 extortion case.
A city court has ordered police to arrest a blogger-cum-TikToker Joseph Gitonga Kihanya alias Gitonga Archives for failing to appear in court today for trial in a Sh500,000 extortion case.
Mr Kihanya, also a street activist, was expected to face his accusers in the case filed by an official of the Cooperative Bank.
Issuing the warrant city court senior resident magistrate Sharon Ouko ordered police to track down the accused who allegedly posted defamatory videos in the social media disparaging the name of the top bank official.
“I apply for a warrant of arrest to be issued against Kihanya who has failed to turn up for his trial,” a prosecuting counsel urged.
The prosecutor informed the magistrate that the TikToker is out on a bond of Sh100,000 with an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000.
The magistrate heard no information was relayed to court regarding the whereabouts of the accused.
The prosecutor urged the court to extend orders prohibiting and gagging Kihanya from publishing any offending article against Cooperative Bank or any of its staff regarding the pending case against him in his social media platform-Gitonga Archives pending the determination of the criminal case filed against him.
Kihanya is accused of demanding Sh500,000 from Mr Amos Hunja Mwangi to pull down an alleged defamatory video he had published in his TikTok account.