Two police witnesses have told the court that comedian Eric Omondi turned ‘violent’ and beat up vegetable vendors during a June 2024 protest.
Officers claim Omondi used a wooden stick (rungu) to chase and beat women he had brought to the Senate Gate to stage protests.
The comedian is facing charges of obstruction and creating a disturbance after scattering ‘sukuma wiki’ across Parliament Road.
Appearing before Milimani Principal Magistrate Carolyne Nyanguthii on Thursday, January 22, 2026, Eric Omondi sat silently as two key police witnesses described a scene of “orchestrated chaos” outside the Senate Gate on June 4, 2024.
According to the officers, the protest—which involved scattering sacks of sukuma wiki (kale) on the road—was not as peaceful as the comedian’s viral videos suggested.
A female officer who was on duty at the Senate Gate gave a vivid account of the afternoon Omondi arrived with a group of approximately 25 people.
She told the court that Eric Omondi was brandishing a handheld loudspeaker and a wooden stick, or rungu.
She alleged that the comedian was deliberately hitting the women he had brought to the protest to “provoke screams” and create a sense of panic for the benefit of onlookers and cameras.
The court also heard from Police Corporal Kigen, who assisted in the arrest.
Kigen testified that when he arrived at the scene, he found the road leading to the Senate Gate completely blocked by scattered vegetables and a shouting Omondi.
“Eric Omondi was beating the women with a stick,” Kigen told the prosecutor during cross-examination.
He confirmed that the comedian was shouting slogans such as “Mama mboga amechoka, wabunge ni wasaliti” (The vegetable sellers are tired, MPs are traitors) while brandishing the weapon.
The prosecution has presented the loudspeaker and the wooden stick as formal exhibits in the case.
While Omondi’s legal team argued that a formal notice for the demonstration had been filed weeks in advance, the police maintained that the “theatrical” violence used to create a disturbance crossed a legal line.
The comedian, who has previously served time for “unlawful assembly,” remains defiant outside the courtroom, but the testimony of his alleged victims being “chased with a rungu” has added a serious edge to the proceedings.
Magistrate Nyanguthii has adjourned the hearing, with the case set to resume on February 18, 2026.
