The Court of Appeal has suspended orders that sentenced Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti to four months in jail for contempt of court.
A three-judge bench comprising justices Fatuma Sichale, Msagha Mbogoli and Imaana Laibuta set the orders aside pending the hearing and determination of an appeal filed by Kinoti challenging his sentencing for failing to surrender guns confiscated from businessman Jimi Wanjigi.
“Certainly, if the applicant is subsequently arrested and proceeds to serve the sentence, he will have lost his right to liberty and in the event of the appeal succeeding, the prison sentence cannot be reversed and the substratum of the appeal will have been lost thus rendering the intended appeal nugatory,” the appeals court noted.
In the petition before the Appellate court, Kinoti submits that the High Court ignored his explanation that the firearms confiscated from Wanjigi were not in his custody but that of the Firearms Licensing Board.
“The firearms in question were in the custody of the Firearms Licensing Board, which he believed was sufficient explanation in the circumstances for consideration by the Court, and that the learned judge totally disregarded the above averments and proceeded to sentence him to 4 months imprisonment,” reads the petition.
Kinoti argues that the Firearms Licensing Board is an independent entity over which he has no jurisdiction and therefore cannot compel the body to release the firearms.
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