A madrassa teacher convicted of radicalising school children has appealed against his 20-year jail sentence.
Mr Samuel Wanjala Wabwile, alias Salim Mohamed, who filed the appeal at the Mombasa High Court wants his conviction and sentence quashed on grounds that the court erred in law.
Mr Wabwile who was jailed for radicalising six primary school children in Kilifi County told the High Court that the magistrate who sentenced him erred in law and facts, by failing to consider that the conviction and sentence was founded on a defective charge sheet.
In his court papers, Mr Wabwile said that the magistrate also erred in law by admitting documentary evidence without a certificate to legitimise the manner in which it was processed.
Mombasa High Court Judge Justice Dorah Chepkwoni further heard that the magistrate had no authority to sit, hear and determine an offence committed outside its jurisdiction.
Shanzu Senior Principal Magistrate Diana Mochache sentenced Mr Wabwile to 20 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of the offence on January 7, 2016.
Wabwile was facing charges of being a member of the al-Shabaab millitia group and recruiting six pupils of Gotani Primary School to join the terror group.
Mr Wabwile is said to have committed the offence on diverse dates between January 8, 2013 and June 19, 2015 a Gotani Location in Kilifi.
He was arrested on July 19, 2015 at Gandini, Kaloleni, where he was an Imam at a mosque in Gotani village.
Magistrate Mochache however acquitted Mr Wabwile of charges of being a member of al-Shabaab saying the prosecution failed to directly link him to the militant group.
The appeal case will be mentioned on September 20, 2016.