The High Court has acquitted a Lamu Member of County Assembly who was jailed for nine years and six months for attempting to aid the escape of three drug trafficking convicts.
Justice Reuben Nyakundi sitting in Malindi acquitted Mkomani Ward MCA Yahya Mohamed Shee saying things did not add up in the judgement against him.
“I have removed all the charges levelled against the accused and dismissed the judgment that convicted Yahya Ahmed Shee Basodhe,” the Judge ordered.
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Shee had appealed the judgement of Lamu Principal Magistrate Allan Temba that would have seen him serve a nine and a half years sentence in prison or pay a fine of Ksh800,000 plus another five and a half years behind the bars.
The lawmaker who was on April 7, this year found guilty of six charges, including an attempt to jailbreak three convicted drug traffickers, had been released on a bond of Ksh300,000 with surety of a similar amount after appealing the judgement.
The Lamu Magistrate had stated that the first, second and third counts where the MCA tried to rescue drug traffickers would attract a jail sentence of four years each.
The Magistrate had also sentenced the MCA to four years in prison or an alternative fine of Ksh 400,000 each for the fourth and fifth count where the MCA was found guilty of unlawfully resisting police arrest.
On Friday, Justice Nyakundi set aside the sentences and acquitted the MCA of all the charges saying that in their statement, the police had said there were so many people who conspired with the MCA, but there was no explanation why the others were not arrested.
The judge wondered why it was difficult to arrest one or two other people in connection to the matter.
“Witnesses were many in this case, but when you analyse deeply, there was no reason to show why they had differing statements, yet they were present when the incident happened,” he said.
The judge said that even though the charges levelled against the MCA were so many and the incident happened at one time, it was as if the State wanted to ensure Shee falls into the trap in one of the many counts.
While addressing journalists outside the Malindi Law Courts after his release, the MCA said that he was happy that justice had finally been served and thanked his family and supporters for standing with him during the entire period until the acquittal.
