Mombasa Court Jails Tanzanian Woman For 45 Years For Drug Trafficking

A Mombasa court on Tuesday sentenced a middle-aged Tanzanian woman to 45 years in prison for trafficking heroin with an estimated value of Ksh 16,167,000.

In his Judgement, Principal Magistrate Martin Rabera found Maimuna Jumanne Amir guilty of drug trafficking in 5,389 grams of heroin concealed in a black travelling bag.

The accused was also fined Ksh 48,501,000 (which is 3 times the value of the drugs in her possession) in default 10 years in prison for the offence of the trafficking in narcotic drugs contrary to section 4 (a) of the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (control) act no. 4 of 1994. This is after being given a sentenced of 35 years in imprison.

The sentencing section in the act in charge sheet read that “the accused once found guilty will be first fined 3 times the amount of money of the drugs found and then be given a sentence for the actual offence,”

But since the accused can either pay the fine or fail to pay, she was given additional years “in lieu of paying fine to act as an incentive.”

The accused is said to have committed the offense jointly with others not before court on 14 March, 2021 at Moi International Airport in Changamwe sub-county within Mombasa county.

In his Judgement, Rabera ruled that the Prosecution led by Prosecution Counsel Barbara Sombo proved its case to the standard provided under the law.

The court indicated that 16 prosecution witnesses gave collaborative testimonies against the accused hence placed her at the scene of crime.

The court also ruled that the accused failed to absolve herself from the  offence facing her leaving the court with no option but convict and sentence her in accordance with the law.