Keroche CEO Tabitha Karanja gets court reprieve as Nanyuki court strikes out her name from list of accused.

Embattled Keroche Breweries Chief Executive Officer Tabitha Karanja yesterday got a reprieve after a Nanyuki court struck off her name from a charge sheet in which her company and a distributor had been accused of infringement of beer packaging by a rival firm.

In her ruling yesterday, Nanyuki Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku granted an application made last week by special prosecutor John Maina to have the charge sheet amended and expunge her name as the second accused person.

“Having considered the application by the prosecution, I hereby grant the request to strike out accused two in this matter and charge accused one and three afresh,” the magistrate said.

Mrs. Karanja had initially been charged alongside her company and a Nanyuki based beer distributor Grace Wanjiru found with Viena Ice pre-packed beer in sealed bottles of 500 milliliters on September 30, 2015, in Nanyuki town, having East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) logo embossed on the bottles that were likely to mislead consumers to believe EABL is the manufacturer of the beer.

They also faced a second charge of being found in possession of Summit lager beer pre-packed in bottles containing EABL markings embossed on it on the same day.

The prosecution had initially sought to charge Keroche Breweries as an entity, Mrs. Karanja as a CEO of the company alongside Ms. Grace Wanjiru who is Keroche’s beer distributor in Nanyuki town.

Maina who is prosecuting the case on behalf of Weights and Measures Department consequently substituted the old charge sheet with a fresh one with the amendments where Keroche Breweries Limited and Grace Wanjiru were charged afresh for the offenses.

Lawyer Ibrahim Sanko appearing for Keroche Breweries told the court that he did not object to the amending of the charge sheet to strike out the name of Mrs. Karanja from it adding that it would have been in bad taste to charge her as a company CEO and also, charge the company at the same time.

BY KNA.