Murang’a court jails boy for three years for peddling bhang
A court in Murang’a has sentenced a 15-year-old boy to three years in jail for peddling bhang.
A court in Murang’a has sentenced a 15-year-old boy to three years in jail for peddling bhang.
And on Christmas day, unaware he was getting into a trap, the boy attempted to sell the narcotic to a police boss.
When he appeared before Chief Resident Magistrate Shivai Agade at the Kigumo Law Courts, the minor stunned the court after he pleaded guilty to the charges, adding that he blamed his parents for pampering him.
Asked to clarify what he meant, he said, "I would have reformed long time ago had they not been paying bails and bonds for me when arrested."
After dropping out of Class Six, he joined backstreet gangs where he was indoctrinated into narcotics and illicit brew trade, he said.
He had been arrested several times for violent attacks and defilements but would be bailed out on grounds of being a minor.
But on December 25, he was arrested in Mathare estate in Maragua town while peddling bhang.
Officer in disguise
He was found in possession of 12 rolls of bhang which he attempted to sell to Maragua Police Station OCS Cleophas Mangut who was in disguise.
The 10pm incident saw Mr Mangut approach the minor and ordered for 10 rolls which would have cost him Sh500.
Not aware that he had fallen into a police trap, the minor retrieved the contraband from the gumboots he was wearing, upon which he was handcuffed and locked up at the station.
Ms Agade said the boy needed rehabilitative justice and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment at the Shimo La Tewa Juvenile Prison.
"It is for his own good that he be taken care of in a specialised corrective institution. The government has enough of such institutions and good care that include rehabilitation, counselling and mentoring should be employed to salvage his mindset from self-hate and crime," she said.
