On 29 May 2004 at 4.20 p.m., Augustine Munyeke was found with 10 kilograms of cannabis sativa at the Taveta bus stage.[1] Charged with trafficking under section 4(a) of the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Control Act 1994, he told the Taveta court on 2 June 2004, “I admit the charge. It is true,” and, after the prosecutor read the facts on 22 June, added, “The facts are true. I carried bhang knowing it was bhang.”[1] The magistrate convicted him on his guilty plea and sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment plus a Ksh 300,000 fine; in mitigation the court heard he was a 32-year-old first offender, a Tanzanian national with an aged mother and children depending on him.[1]
On 18 July 2005 the High Court at Mombasa dismissed his appeal.[1] Justice J. Khaminwa found the plea regular — the charge had been read on 2 June, he had three weeks in custody to reconsider, and the facts supported the charge — and found no fault with the sentence, noting the law allowed life imprisonment and a fine of Ksh 1 million or more.[1] The state asked for the fine to be enhanced to Ksh 1 million; the judge refused to interfere, upholding the conviction, the ten-year term and the Ksh 300,000 fine.[1]