Nigerian gets 8-year jail term for Sh890,000 cocaine trafficking case in Nairobi
The Milimani Law Court Friday sentenced Nigerian national Alabi Tunde Lateef to eight years in prison after finding him guilty of trafficking narcotic drugs valued at Sh890,800.
The court heard that on September 11, 2017, at the General Post Office (GPO) area in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD), Lateef was found trafficking by conveying 75.4 grammes of cocaine with a street value of Sh377,000.
On the same day, at Kasarani’s Mwiki area, he was also found trafficking by storing 102.7 grammes of cocaine worth Sh513,800.
Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi handed him eight years’ imprisonment for each of the two counts, with the sentences to run concurrently, after ruling that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Prosecution, led by Counsels Wanjiru Naomi and Nyakira Kibera, called four witnesses whose evidence was instrumental in securing the conviction.
Elsewhere, one Peter Natesero Lengusu was sentenced to life imprisonment after the Kabarnet Magistrate Court found him guilty of robbery with violence.
The offence occurred on 10th August 2024 at Kampi Turkana village in Marigat Location, Baringo South Sub-County.
Testimony from five witnesses, including the victim, as well as medical reports and other evidence, revealed that the accused, together with others still at large, accosted and robbed the victim of his mobile phone before assaulting him with crude weapons.
It emerged during the hearing that Lengusu had evaded justice for some time before being apprehended by members of the community, who alerted the police, leading to his arrest.
In delivering the judgment, magistrate Caroline Ateya took note of the gravity of the crime and the accused’s complete lack of remorse.
The court further highlighted his chilling threats to kill the victim and others involved in his arrest, warning them to “start digging their graves before he arrives from prison.” Citing these remarks as a sign of ongoing danger, the magistrate imposed the maximum sentence: life imprisonment.
And the Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court sentenced the Ex General Manager, Finance and ICT at Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, to pay a fine of three million or, in default, serve four years in prison for earning a salary and allowances using a forged academic degree between April 1, 2022 and August 31, 2022.
Noah Okech Oluoch, aka Noah Oketch Oluoch, was found guilty of fraudulently acquiring public property in terms of salary and allowances of Sh1,455,066.05 from the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, having been employed using a forged degree certificate.
On this count, the court sentenced him to pay a fine of Sh100,000, or in default, serve one year imprisonment and a mandatory fine of Sh2,910,131.10, or in default, two years imprisonment.
The court also found him guilty of the offence of uttering a false document.
On March 23, 2021 at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, within Nairobi County, with intent to deceive, knowingly and fraudulently uttered a forged Master of Business Administration Degree Certificate in the name of Noah Oluoch Oketch to CPA Peter Mbugua, the Chief Executive Officer at the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, purporting it to be a genuine document issued to him by the University of Nairobi, a fact he knew to be false.
He was convicted and fined Sh100,000 or, in default, sentence to serve one year’s imprisonment for the offence of uttering a false document.
Magistrate Celesa Okore ordered that Oluoch serve the sentence consecutively.