A Kenyan man was Thursday sentenced to 30 years in jail for trafficking two minors from Tanzania to Kenya in 2016
Appearing before Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi at the Makadara Law Courts in Nairobi, James Zengo was ordered to pay a Sh30 million fine or in default serve the prison term for charges of economic exploitation.
The court heard that the minors were found harboured in Kariobangi North Estate and that Zengo had willfully resisted arrest.
The prosecution presented ten witnesses who testified in the case.
He was charged before the court with trafficking in humans, illegal harboring and resisting arrest by police.
Zengo was accused of renting a house where he harbored children and adults who were trafficked from Tanzania with a promise to their parents that there were jobs for people living with disabilities in Nairobi.
On April 3 2016 in the company of others not before the court, the court heard that he was allegedly found harboring AF in a house at Kariobangi North estate in Starehe Sub-county.
Consequently, he was accused of resisting arrest by four police officers.
The court heard that Zengo and his team would go to Tanzania to entice the vulnerable families with a promise that they will receive monthly income from the proceeds of their children’s hard work.
However, upon arrival in Nairobi, they would be put in a small room where they only spent the night before embarking on daily begging along the streets where they would be watched over the whole day.
According to the court papers, each individual is given a daily target of Sh2,000 and anyone who fails to meet it is beaten up by Zengo using crutches.
In a video clip played in court, AF, a helpless man who would not move without crutches or a wheelchair, was brought in by Zengo 10 years ago.
A police officer however rescued AF, following a tip-off from the public.
He was at the center of a BBC Africa Eye investigation and was found guilty of trafficking disabled people in Kenya.
