Jermaine Grant a British citizen has been granted a 4 year prison sentence by a Mombasa court after he was found guilty of being in possession of explosives.
Mombasa Chief Magistrate Evans Makori ruled that no record from prison authorities was provided to tell the behaviour of the accused.
Mr Grant was found guilty last month and the court said that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the chemicals the suspect was found with were to be used in making of an explosive for purposes of committing a terrorist act.
Grant will now serve a total of 13 years as he is already serving a nine-year term for charges of trying to obtain a Kenyan passport using false pretences.
While sentencing him, chief magistrate Evans Makori said he had considered mitigation by both the prosecution and the defence.
Makori also said he had considered that the matter had taken years to be concluded and that Grant had remained in custody all that while.
Grant was charged alongside his wife Warda Breik and Frank Ngala after being arrested at a house in Kisauni alleged to have been owned by terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite also known as the “White Widow”.
He was charged that on December 20, 2011, in Kisauni, he was found in possession of explosives.
The prosecution had sought to have Grant sentenced to seven years as outlined in the law. The state said the crime was serious as the harm would have been grievous if the plans of making explosives had materialised.
However, Grant through his lawyer Chacha Mwita said the state’s submissions were hearsays. He urged the court to consider that the Briton has been in custody for eight years as the case delayed.
Kenyans have since lamented the sentence is too lenient for such a heavy crime slamming the Judiciary.
Do you think the sentencing was fair enough?