Nairobi court slaps drug trafficker with life sentence
A drug trafficker has been handed a life imprisonment.
In addition, chief magistrate Ms Martha Mutuku imposed a fine of Sh20million to the convict Anne Achieng Anyanga.
Sentencing Achieng, Ms Mutuku said drugs are a great menance to families and a great destroyer to the web of the society.
She convicted Achieng for trafficking a psychotropic drug namely Methamphetamine weighing 854.3 grams with a market value of Sh6,834,000 million in vehicle with foreign registration in 2016.
State prosecutor Anderson Gikunda asked the court to treat her as a first offender but asked the court to hand down the maximum penalty due to the gravity of the charge and the damage the drugs could have caused to the society.
In mitigation the convict asked the court to exercise leniency given that she is a single mother.
“I have considered the mitigation and the value of the drugs in question , I herby order the accused to pay a fine of Sh20,593,200m in addition to serve life sentence” ruled Mutuku.
The narcotics were conveyed in a motor vehicle with Uganda customized registration number belonging to Modern 5 of Modern Coast Bus Company.
She was arrested at Naivasha along the Naivasha Nairobi highway within Nakuru County jointly with another woman Elizabeth Akinyi Mboga.
They were arrested and charged with trafficking the drugs on August19, 2016.
Passing the sentence, the magistrate found that the evidence presented by the prosecution was consistent and water tight and thus “the case was proved beyond reasonable doubt.”
“I thus proceed to convict the accused as charged,” ruled Ms Mutuku
The prosecution case was that, a driver with Modern Coast Bus testified that he was driving the bus.
He said he begun his journey to Kenya to Uganda 9am on the material day and upon arrival at Naivasha, they were stopped by police officers.
The police ordered the vehicle to be driven to Naivasha police station where all passengers were ordered to disembark with their luggage.
He stated that one of the ladies was arrested after police informed other passengers that she was trafficking drugs.
The driver confirmed to court that Acheing was in the bus he was driving.
The court heard the drugs were contained in a brown box carton which had a black polythene bag and 53 plastic brushes. The officers opened the hollow part of the brush and a brown substance had been concealed.
The court further noted that the prosecution witness from the government chemist who produced a report confirmed the substance in question was methamphetamine, a narcotic drug under the said Act.
The convict was given 14 days to appeal against the sentence.