Four drug traffickers to pay Sh89m fine as appeals denied
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
The High Court in Kibera has upheld a fine of Sh89 million imposed on four drug traffickers, including one Chinese national, arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Thika Superhighway.
The judgment is a major boost to the war against transnational organised crimes.
At the same time, a mother of a six-month-old baby will remain in police custody after the anti-narcotic court at JKIA denied her bail pending trial over accusations of trafficking 3962.75 grams of cocaine valued at Sh15.8 million.
The four traffickers -Qui Xiaoting, Mary Muita, Benard Otieno and Yusuf Bilal- were arrested separately back in 2018 at the JKIA and Thika superhighway road trafficking narcotics.
They have since lost attempts to have their sentences quashed and freed from jail.
In the judgements delivered by Justice Diana Kavedza early this week, the court said the convicts are ineligible for early release from prison over various reasons, including the seriousness of the offences.
Prison decongestion
Bilal and the Chinese national Xiaoting wanted the court to rule that they were suitable for consideration of sentence review in the spirit of the ongoing prison decongestion program.
The ongoing decongestion exercise is based on the Chief Justice Martha Koome's memo dated December 7, 2022, which is part of the Judiciary's strategic efforts to transform the country’s correctional system by reducing overcrowding in jail.
With rejection of his application, Xiaoting's fine remains Sh40 million as imposed by the JKIA magistrate court in default serve one in year imprisonment plus another 18 years without option of a fine.
"The probation report is unfavourable due to the applicant being a foreign national with no permanent residence in the country, and the probation officer being unable to verify the contact information provided by the applicant. As a result, supervision by a probation officer is impractical," said Justice Kavedza.
Eleven years without fine
In the case of Bilal, he was sentenced to pay a fine of Sh37.3 million in default to serve a one-year imprisonment.
In addition, he was sentenced to serve 11 years imprisonment without fine.
He was a hired private car driver from Wajir to Nairobi.
The car was intercepted in May 2019 by the police acting on information from an informer and intelligence officers.
The motor vehicle was conveying a consignment of narcotic drugs weighing 415,000 grams from Bute Wajir to Nairobi.
The market value of the drugs was Sh12,450,000.
"I find that the applicant is not eligible for a non-custodial sentence due to the seriousness of the offence and I decline to release him on a non-custodial sentence," said Justice Kavedza, dismissing the application.
Fifteen years behind bars
For Muita and Otieno, they have been fined Sh5.1 million and Sh7.1 million, respectively, in default serve one year in prison each.
They were also sentenced to 15 years imprisonment each without the option of a fine.
The pair's case involved possession of heroin valued at Sh4 million, (Sh1.7 million for Muita and Sh2.3 million for Otieno).
Justice Kavedza dismissed their joint appeal in its entirety stating that it lacked merit.
She rejected arguments that the sentence imposed by the magistrate court was harsh and excessive.
They were arrested by the Transnational Organised Crimes police Unit at JKIA traveling to Mauritius.
The arrest was part of an operation guided by intelligence, according to court papers.
They had swallowed the drugs, 49 pellets for Muita and 59 for Otieno, but in a dramatic turn of events Muita complained of stomach pains at the airport.
She vomited four pallets of the narcotic substance and emitted the rest after being escorted to the toilet. Otieno also emitted the pellets at the toilet.
"From the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, which was well corroborated, there is no doubt in my mind that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the offence charged. The conviction of Muita and Otieno is therefore affirmed," said the judge.
Tests by government chemist indicated that the substance recovered from the two contained heroin.
In their respective defences, Muita and Otieno refuted any involvement in the trafficking of narcotic drugs.
They denied knowing each other or emitting pellets of heroin. Otieno maintained that he was innocent and it was a case of mistaken identity.
The trial court found the defence incredible, viewing it as an afterthought.
According to the judge, the prosecution's case, corroborated by multiple witnesses, proved the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
At the same time, Justice Kavedza a request by another suspect, Susan Maina, to review decision of a JKIA magistrate court to deny her bail.
She is battling charges of conspiring to traffic in cocaine weighing 3962.75 grams with the market value of Sh15.8 million.
She was denied bond on the ground that the same did not have fixed place of abode and was therefore a flight risk.