Today’s Court Update
August 10th, 2023 (Hearing): Todays’s hearing was adjourned due to an inexplicable miscommunication between the court and the accused and his counsel. Despite the fact that today’s matter was on the cause list and the prosecution and KWS were prepared for a hearing with two witnesses present, it was stated that the accused had been given contrary dates. This is difficult to understand as it was noted that the advocated for the accused was in court on May 23rd when the August 10th hearing date was given.
The hearing is now set for September 23rd. In this matter, the last time testimony in this case was heard was September 20th, 2022.
CASE OVERVIEW
- On January 1st, 2022, KWS officers received intelligence of two individuals attempting to sell ivory from a black motor vehicle.
- At approximately 2:30 pm, the vehicle was located in central Mombasa. KWS and NPS officers moved in to effect an arrest of the occupants, Assad Mohamed Ahmed and Abdi Mohammed Ali.
- They were found to have 7 pieces of ivory wrapped in a manilla sack weighing 24.5 kg. The first suspect managed to escape.
- The first accused was arraigned on January 3rd.
- SEEJ-AFRICA was not aware of this prosecution until July 6th.
Proceedings
Mombasa Court #8 – HON. David O. Odhiambo
Previous: Hon. M.O. Rabera -Principal Magistrate
May 23rd, 2023 (Mention): A hearing date of August 10th was confirmed. The accused was not present but the advocate was.
May 11th, 2023 (Mention): This matter has been adjourned to May 23rd for mention and August 10th for hearing in front of Hon. Odhiamdo.
April 20th, 2023, (Hearing): P.C. Ahmed Mukhtar of the National Police Service, was being recalled today on the order of Magistrate Rabera after Mukhtar had given contradictory testimony last September. That did not happen.
Magistrate Rabera advised that he will soon be transferred and will not be hearing any more of this prosecution. Next date to be determined by that Magistrate who will take over.
December 8th, 2022(Mention): The next hearing date has been set for April 20th, 2023. The hostile National Police Service officer is being recalled after his previous contradictory testimony.
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September 27th, 2022(Ruling): Magistrate Rabera ordered the NPS witness be recalled by the prosecution to testify again. He will be cross-examined by defence at that time.
Set for a mention date of December 8th to fix a hearing date.
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September 20th, 2022 (Hearing): Today’s testimony was from P.C. Ahmed Mukhtar of the National Police Service, who was one of the officers at the arrest. In the course of his testimony, he contradicted previous evidence of KWS officers and the contents of his original written statement regarding the location of the recovered ivory and the number of suspects at the arrest.
During the testimony, Mombasa magistrate Martin Rabera, on several occasions had to interject, ordering P.C. Mukhtar to refrain from reading from written notes.
Prosecutor Anne Nyawira subsequently had to make an application requesting the court to rely on the witness’s earlier written statement as evidence in chief.
The accused’s advocate opposed the application, stating that the reason for the contradictory evidence was that his client was never arrested in possession of ivory and had been framed.
Magistrate Rabera will make a ruling on the prosecution’s application on September 27th.
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July 6th, 2022 (Hearing): Testimony from one KWS officer outlining the circumstances of the arrest as detailed below.
