Lawyers who represented the Opposition at the courts following the 2017 General Election have come out to speak on a veteran magistrate who led the courts in post-colonial Kenya.
Senior Resident Magistrate (SRM) John Robert McReady gained a reputation for deciding on criminal cases based on the first impression of the accused.
Nicknamed "Mr Maximum", the judge was known to always pass the maximum sentence even in cases where the court could have been more lenient.
"Anybody who appeared before him who was black was almost certain to be convicted. He was an anti-black racist who also thought black lawyers could not do it," lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee conveyed.
[caption caption="File image of former British High Commissioner Christian Turner with lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee"]
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Veteran lawyer John Khaminwa added that even after passing the maximum penalty for an offence, the judge would tell the offender: "I wish I could add you more".
He added that the judge had a bias against people who had long hair or dreadlocks. The SRM would tell the suspect, "I noticed you have long hair. May I say to you that in my view, a prima facie (at first appearance) case has already been made against you before trial and all I need is some evidence to sentence you to imprisonment."
"I still remember very well about a case I had argued before him. The maximum sentence was supposed to be 10 years. We had entered a plea of guilty.
"My client was an elderly man of 60 years and was a first offender. I did my best at mitigation. I pleaded for a lenient sentence and asked for the person to be committed to probation since what he had done was not all that serious.
"McReady listened to me attentively and even praised me, saying I had done well in mitigation," narrated retired Court of Appeal Judge John Walter Onyango Otieno.
The SRM went on to impose a nine and a half year sentence on the elderly man to the disappointment of the then criminal lawyer Onyango Otieno.
Retired High Court Judge Nicholas Ombija added: "When the charge related to say, robbery with violence, assault or a sexual offence, and he felt such an offence is common with people of your tribe, then you could almost be certain he would pass a sentence against you. He would say to the accused, 'You must have done it.'"
[caption caption="File image of SRM John McReady (second from right) during a public tour"]
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The magistrate was later brutally murdered at his Oltarakwai farmhouse along the Nyeri-Nanyuki Road in 1985 at the age of 75.
Uknown assailants sneaked into his house and clobbered him to death.
