On 13 June 2003 at about 9 p.m., police from Athi River Police Station stopped a pickup heading from Athi River towards Nairobi at Kapa Oil in Mlolongo after a tip-off about suspicious goods.[1] Eleven bags of cannabis sativa were found on the vehicle with six people aboard, and all were arrested; samples were later confirmed by the Government Chemist to be cannabis sativa.[1] The driver, Lawrence Gathara, said he had been hired to carry second-hand clothes and denied knowing the sacks’ contents.[1]
The Machakos Chief Magistrate’s Court convicted four of the six — one accused was acquitted and one had since died — fining each Ksh 1 million in default of five years’ imprisonment plus a further ten years.[1] On 1 December 2004 the High Court at Machakos confirmed Gathara’s conviction, finding that as the owner-driver he must have known and controlled the visible bags, but set the fine aside because no proper officer had certified the drugs’ value.[1] Justice R. V. Wendoh resentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment and sustained the forfeiture of the vehicle and the destruction of the drugs.[1] The other three appellants were acquitted and set free, the court holding that merely riding in the vehicle proved only suspicion, not knowledge or control beyond reasonable doubt.[1]