Today’s Court Update
#15. March 28th, 2024 (Mention – Directions): This prosecution has essentially been on hold since Hon. D. Odhiambo ordered the arrest of the first accused in January. A#1 has not been arrested so the court has ordered that the matter will proceed. A#1’s cash bail has been forfeited and an arrest warrant remains in effect. The next hearing date is July 25th, 2024.
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, 2022.
Presiding Magistrate and Court: Hon. David O. Odhiambo – Senior Resident Magistrate Court 8 Previous: Hon. M.O. Rabera -Principal Magistrate | |
State Counsel: | Advocates for the Accused: |
Accused: Assad Mohammed Ahmed Abdi Mohammed Ali | |
Charges:
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Date of Arrest: 2022-01-01 | Date of Arraignment: 2022-01-03 |
Location of Arrest: Mombasa CBD | Contraband Seized: 24.5 kg |
PROCEEDINGS
#14. February 28th, 2023 (Mention): Today’s scheduled mention was for the purpose of giving directions relating to the missing accused. That did not happen as Senior Resident Magistrate David O. Odhiambo was attending an official meeting. The accused was present without his lawyer and KWS was also not present. Next mention date set for March 28th.
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#13. January 17th, 2023 (Hearing): Today’s hearing did not take place. Hon. Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo ordered the arrest of the accused who has been on the run since the date of seizure on January 1st, 2022. The prosecutor indicated to the court that the IO has been tracking the accused. The court gave a mention date of February 28th to confirm his arrest. There were no witnesses in attendance.
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#12. September 25th, 2023 (Hearing): The scheduled hearing took place before Senior Resident Magistrate Hon. David Odhiambo with testimony from three prosecution witnesses.
The National Museum analyst,
Dr Ogeto Mwebi, told the court that all the seven suspected exhibits were elephant’s tusks: “Through comparative anatomy techniques and examination by a microscope I found out that the seven pieces had unique internal structures of elephant tusks,” said Dr. Mwebi.
His testimony was followed by that of two of the arresting National police service officers, including Police Constable Ahmed Mukhtar. P.C. Mukhtar had previously testified but was recalled on application by the prosecution due to inconsistent testimony and contradictory evidence of other witnesses.
Both police witnesses recounted a similar story. On January 1st, 2022, they arrested the suspects at approximately 14:30 hrs in a vehicle regisstration KCZ 476P.
“We searched the vehicle and found a black bag, upon further examination we found the seven pieces of elephant tusks”, Mukhtar told the court. They arrested the suspects and drove them to the Central police station and made their statements.
At the central police station the seven pieces of suspected ivory were weighed at 24.5 kilograms.
However, the two police officers differed on how the suspects were transported from the scene of arrest to the police station. P.C. Muktar claimed that they drove the suspects in a KWS vehicle while P.C. Mwange stated that they drove the suspects in the vehicle they found them in.
When P.C. Muktar testified on the first occasion he had initially stated that the ivory was found in a green manilla sack which was similar to the testimony of earlier prosecution witnesses. He then changed his mind as stated that the ivory was in a black bag. He had also been confused over the number of suspects in the vehicle that was intercepted.
The court adjourned for the next hearing date of January 17th, 2024.
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#11. 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 25th. In this matter, the last time testimony in this case was heard was September 20th, 2022.
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#10. May 23rd, 2023 (Mention): A hearing date of August 10th was confirmed. The accused was not present but the advocate was.
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#9. May 11th, 2023 (Mention): This matter has been adjourned to May 23rd for mention and August 10th for hearing in front of Hon. Odhiamdo.
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#8. 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.
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#7. 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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#6. 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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#5. September 20th, 2022 (Hearing): Today’s testimony was from P.C. Ahmed Muktar 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.
