A Shanzu court has sentenced a 47-year-old woman to serve 50 years in jail for drug trafficking.
Shanzu senior principal magistrate, David Odhiambo sentenced Zainab Abdi Farah to serve 25 years in prison for the first count of trafficking 303.3 grams of cocaine with a market value of Ksh1,213,200 at Soliani area in Kisauni Mombasa county.
Farah was further slapped with an additional 25 years for a second count, of trafficking 76.7 grams of heroin with an estimated street value of Ksh 230,100.
The court further ordered the suspect to pay a fine of Ksh 3,626,300 and Ksh 690,600 for the first and second counts respectively.
The magistrate in his judgment said that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused for the offence of trafficking narcotics contrary to section 4(a) of the Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances control of 1994.
“Having analyzed the testimonies and evidence of the prosecution witnesses and considered the submissions by the prosecution and the defence the court found out that prosecution has established a prima facie case against the accused the sentence should run co- currently,” he said.
He noted that it was the prosecution’s evidence that they had received intelligence information that the accused person was in the drug business and had hidden them in her house.
“They then planned a search where they recovered drugs under her bed and some hanging on the wall. The said substances were produced in court as evidence and the government analyst confirmed that the whitish substance tested positive for cocaine, while the brownish substance tested positive for heroin,” he noted.
He further revealed that more evidence had been presented before the court including a black silver handbag and inside the bag there was a small black bag ,items he (Odhiambo) described as sizeable enough and that he was not convinced by the accussed person’s defence that they could have been sneaked in and planted in the house of the accused with a view of framing her.
“The accused person while giving her sworn testimony came out to be untrustworthy. l have considered her defence and l find that she had failed to dislodge the prosecution case. The prosecution case remains steadfast,” Odhiambo added.
The magistrate noted that although he had considered the mitigation of the accused person, and sympathised with her family his hands were tied.
“I pity the family of the accused person the young family, at this particular time, however, l also have to consider the consequences the drugs would have caused in our society and sentence her in accordance with the law,” he noted.
In her mitigation before court she had informed the court that she was a mother to three kids with the youngest being 8 years old who were all under her care, and that she was on medication having developed back pains.
She was given 14 days to appeal her sentence.
