Two women have been fined Sh30 million each or serve 30 years in jail after they were found guilty of human trafficking by a Mandera Court.
Ms Halima Adan Hassan and Ms Kheirta Ibrahim Ali were sentenced by Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Areri after they pleaded guilty to the charges.
The two accused persons were facing charges of trafficking a minor from Somalia, an offence that was committed between May 25 and 29 this year.
The court heard that the two received a 10-year-old girl from Somalia and were conspiring to further transport the minor to Nairobi through deception.
Ms Hassan faced two other charges including lying to a public officer and getting official documents by false pretence.
State prosecutor Kennedy Amwayi told the court that according to police investigations, the minor stayed at Ms Ali’s house at Burubru estate in Mandera town until when she was picked up by a taxi driver identified as Mr Ahmed Sheikh Hassan.
The taxi driver then took the minor to Ms Hassan’s house where she spent a night before Ms Hassan took her to the Mandera airstrip on May 29.
At the Airport, the court heard that Ms Hassan who was pretending to be the young girl’s mother told a police officer that a relative was waiting for the minor at the Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
The police officer however noticed anomalies on the child’s birth certificate and that of Ms Hassan which led to her being arrested.
“The victim in this case who is a child was facilitated to cross the Kenya-Somalia border by Ms Kheirta Ibrahim Ali, the second accused person,” said prosecutor Amwayi as quoted by nation.co.ke.
Magistrate Areri found the two guilty but gave them 14 days to appeal the ruling.