Kenyan court jails Somali woman to 20 years for smuggling firearm from Somalia

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MANDERA: A court in Mandera County in Kenya has sentenced to 20 years a Somali woman for illegal possession of a firearm after she stole the weapon from Somali police and fled into neighbouring Kenya.

Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Kimani Mukabi found Jamila Maalim Hussein Eymoi guilty of the offence she committed in March 2021. The judge handed Jamila 20 years in jail for possession of the firearm and 10 years for illegal possession of 13 rounds of ammunition.

The sentence will run concurrently meaning she will serve 20 years in jail. According to the court filings, Jamila admitted to the offence while taking a plea on April 22, 2022, but later recanted her evidence later when the prosecution put her in her defence.

The accused jumped bail on March 2022 but was subsequently arrested on March 26, 2022, in Moyale as she attempted to cross into Ethiopia.

“The upshot of the matter is that I proceed to enter a plea of guilty on behalf of the accused on counts one and two. The accused is convicted on those two counts and is acquitted on the third count,” the judge said while delivering his verdict.

According to the prosecution, a Somali liaison officer notified his Kenyan counterparts across the border in Bula Hawo that an AK 47 gun has been stolen from their side and provided phone numbers and photographs of the suspect.

Jamila, police said, had sneaked the weapon into her uncle’s home in Mandera without his knowledge. Days later, police stormed the house and Jamila led them to the room where the weapon was recovered.

Jamila had been in a relationship with a military officer who was living on the Kenya side of the border.