Malindi Senior Principal magistrate Silvia Wewa, on Friday, handed out an 8-year jail term to a man accused of bribing a police officer with Ksh 2000.
Joseph Charo Dzombo was declared guilty of the crime sated to have been committed on January 10, 2016.
“We find that the accused was trying to abuse the trust bestowed by the people on the public officers who were on duty,” ruled the magistrate.
Mr Dzombo is accused of bribing a police officer – Constable Obed Munyao, with the aim of securing the release of a drug trafficker who had been taken into custody.
The offence as documented by The Standard occurred at Matsangoni police roadblock along the Mombasa - Malindi highway.
It was revealed that Mr Dzombo approached officer Munyao and offered him the stated amount of money to facilitate the release of Dennis Odhiambo Sundia.
Mr Odhiambo was in police custody after being caught in possession 200 hundred rolls of bhang with intent to distribute.
“The maximum fine is not supposed to exceed Ksh1 million and the maximum penalty is not supposed to be more than ten years, thus the court directs that he pays a fine of Sh500,000 in default serve eight years imprisonment,” read an excerpt of the magistrates’ ruling.
In a similar case, a man who refused to take an alco-blow test and bribed a police officer Ksh7,000 was sentenced to three years behind bars.
