James Muthiora, alias Karinta, a Meru drug peddler, and his wife Fridah Karimi were sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
“In the first count, the accused person is sentenced to pay a fine of Sh4.6 million or serve five years in prison for trafficking in a narcotic drugs contrary Section 4 and Psychotropic Substances Control Act,” Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Muraguri said.
“In addition to the third count, the accused person was sentenced to life imprisonment for being in possession of utensils used in connection with the preparation of narcotic drugs contrary to Section 5 and Psychotropic Substances Control Act meaning the fine runs concurrently with the life sentence,” Muraguri ruled.
Timothy Kinoti Kariaci, Joseph Ekeno Ekeno, and Jacob Githae Mukunyu, along with Karinta, 59, and his wife Karimi, 50, all denied three charges of trafficking 103 kilograms of bhang valued at Sh3,090,000 at Kooje Estate in North Imenti on November 1, 2018.
“The prosecution, led by James Kinyua and Antony Musyoka, established the group’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, resulting in the accused’s conviction,” Muraguri noted
On the other hand, Kariaci, Ekeno, and Mukunyu were released due to a lack of evidence linking them to the crime of being discovered without lawful and reasonable excuse at Karinta’s house where bhang was being trafficked.
The defense team vowed to file an appeal with the High Court to have Karinta and his wife Fridah Karimi released because, according to the case, the police arrested all five of them.
“There is no way three can be released while two are left behind because they are simply the owners of the house. They were only charged because they own the house. We went to their house when the case started, and there was no hole alleged to have been dug where the police claimed to have discovered the bhang “said a lawyer for the defense team
“We cannot understand where the court got its judgment, and we will use that as the defense team to appeal at the high court,” a defense team lawyer said.
On November 16, Karinta was also charged with being linked to a 981kg bhang batch with a street value of Sh29.43 million.
