Bhang peddler declines lesser penalty, chooses life imprisonment
A man charged in a Makadara court on Monday with drug trafficking and being in possession of bhang angered prosecutor Jackline Nyika who had sought to save him from life imprisonment with an alternative lesser penalty.
Moses Wasilwa pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking 12 rolls of bhang along Haile Sellasie Avenue in Nairobi and denied an alternative charge of possessing the drug.
And Nyika requested senior principal magistrate Jackline Kibosia to place the file aside to talk Wasilwa into a possible plea bargaining.
LESSER OFFENCES
Plea bargaining is the prearrangement between prosecution and suspects who agree to plead guilty to lesser offences in exchange for lenient penalties. It saves prosecution the burden of spending resources in availing evidence and exhibits.
Nyika wanted to offer Wasilwa an opportunity to change his plea and plead guilty to possession of bhang, which could be punished with a lesser jail term or a non-custodial sentence after which she could drop the bhang trafficking charges which attracts life imprisonment.
But Wasilwa told her off and said he was ready to spend life in jail if officers at Kamukunji police station won’t return his bhang and Sh 15, 000 he claimed they stole from him during his arrest.
Wasilwa also claimed he had 200 rolls bhang and not the 12 rolls. He will be sentenced after the probation department tables his social inquiry report.