Three Chinese nationals sentenced to sweep court for a day
Three Chinese nationals were on Friday ordered to clean and sweep cells and a court compound for a whole day after pleading guilty to being in possession of uncustomed goods valued at Sh14,000.
Ms Emily Peng, Mr Lee Liang and Mr Jason Shen had flown into the country to participate at an exhibition at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) Nairobi County.
The three came into the country as advertising agents for a Chinese Company which manufactures assorted goods.
But to their astonishment, they were told they had not paid duty of Sh14,000 for the seven rolls of East African Cables wire they were exhibiting at KICC.
The duty for the goods had not been paid for to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) before they were exhibited.
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The three, who were arraigned before Milimani Resident Magistrate Ms Mirriam Mugure, were surprised to hear they would serve a day’s sentence cleaning and sweeping court rooms, cells and the court precincts.
In mitigation, the convicts told the magistrate they flew into the country on May 29 , 2018 to participate in an exhibition at KICC but they were arrested on May 30, 2018.
Ms Mugure heard that since then the convicts were liasing with the company which send them to Kenya to exhibit and advertise its products locally as it believed they will venture into the market.
They claimed were misled by the company to violate the law by failing to pay duty.
“We knew nothing about the duty payable and we know nothing about KRA requirements for uncustomed goods,” they pleaded.
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They added they have cooperated with the various government agencies and have volunteered information about the mother company which had sponsored their journey.
The three expressed regret for the offence and pleaded for leniency.
In his ruling, the magistrate said:
“I have considered that you admitted the offence against you and the explanation that you did not know the principal company which paid your trip to Kenya had not complied with the law. You will sweep and clean the court for a day.”
She gave them 14 days to appeal against the sentence if they were not satisfied.