Four Somali citizens including two females fined $5500 each for being In Kenya Unlawfully

Four Somali citizens who apprehended at Mandera airstrip while heading to the capital city of Kenya have been fined $5500 each or remain behind the bars for ten years.

Sakariye Abdullah Ahmed, Abdikadir Sharrif Abdinoor, Ubah Abdirahman Hassan and Fadumo Anshur Mohamed were arrested last Sunday according to police.

The four were charged with being found in possession of Kenyan travel visas, which they could not account for and staying in Kenya unlawfully.

State counsel Kennedy Amwayi said the four were intercepted while about to fly to Nairobi using passport numbers belonging to Somalia but had Kenyan visa numbers attached to the documents.

“The accused persons had Kenyan visa numbers on their passports which they could not explain how they acquired them,” said Mr. Amwayi.

On interrogation, none of the accused person could tell how they got the documents.

“We further established that they were unlawfully in Kenya after they produced Somalia national identity cards without any documents showing they were allowed in Kenya,” Mr Amwayi told the court.

The four pleaded guilty to the charges against them and in mitigation, told the court that they were cheated by whoever brought them the documents that they would get to Nairobi.

“I was cheated by the person who brought me the documents that I would get to Nairobi safely. I pray for forgiveness and referred back to my country,” said Ms Hassan, sentiments that were repeated by the other three accused persons.

Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Areri noted the offenses were serious and called for deterrent sentences.

“In the first count, the accused are fined Sh5 million each and in default to serve five year imprisonment and in the second count each accused is fined Sh500,000 and in default to serve five years imprisonment,” ruled Mr Areri.

He further ruled that the sentences will run consecutively and on completion, the accused be repatriated to Somalia and all exhibits be destroyed.
The accused have 14 days to appeal the ruling.