‘Bhang-in-underwear’ girl pleads guilty, parents weep in court
Parents of a Form Four female student caught Thursday with several rolls of bhang hidden in her underwear wept as their daughter was arraigned in court to face charges of possessing narcotics.
The student from Kanyama Secondary School in Nyeri County was one of the passengers in a Nairobi-based bus that was intercepted ferrying drunk students who were also doing drugs.
Disturbing pictures of the girl semi-nude as police searched for drugs hidden on her private parts were circulated widely on social media, prompting a backlash against the officers.
FATIGUED
The student appeared before a magistrate in a Baricho Court in Kirinyaga County. The fatigued girl was dressed in a blue skirt, a white blouse and a blue jersey black shoes and white socks.
The 18 year old Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (KCSE) candidate pleaded guilty to the charges but told the court she was holding the drugs for a friend.
Area Principal Magistrate, Evans Keago, ordered that the girl be remanded in custody until August 11 when her case will come up for a further mention and also have a report from a probation officer and the school produced.
The prosecution led by Chief Inspector, Rose Roheya, did not oppose the conditions issued by the court while the two parents of the girl wept in court as their daughter was brought to the dock still clad in her full school uniform.
DRIVER AND CONDUCTOR
In the same court, the driver and conductor of the bus appeared facing several traffic related cases while transporting school children.
The two pleaded guilty to all the counts and were fined Sh45,000 (Kihingu) and Sh40,000 for Momonyi respectively or face six months in default but of which they paid.
Daniel Mwaura, the driver of the 33 capacity vehicle was charged that on August 5 , at about 12.30pm, along the Sagana-Karatina road, he carried 41 passengers instead of the authorized 33 there by contravening the Public Service Vehicle rules by carrying excess.
He was also charged with carrying eight uninsured passengers while a third count stated that he contravened the PSV rules by traveling to Nyeri and Kirinyaga Counties outside the Transport Licensing Board (TLB), which allows him to operate in Nairobi City and Kayole suburb .
His conductor Justus Momonyi was separately charged with operating as a bus conductor without wearing the prescribed PSV uniform.