‘I am innocent’– Kenyan

Kenyan national Asha Atieno Ogutu wept on the witness stand yesterday, saying she never saw illegal drugs in her life until she was apprehended at the Mactan Cebu International Airport last Sept. 29.

Her lawyer said her suitcase may have been switched with the one found to contain two packs of shabu.

“I am innocent. It was my first time to see something like that,” she said about the drugs found by law enforcers in the lining of her checked-in suitcase.

“I have never seen drugs in my life. So I was shocked.”

The trial ended yesterday with Ogutu’s testimony before Regional Trial Court Judge Toribio Quiwag of Branch 27 in Lapu-Lapu City.

The verdict will be announced in January, said the judge.

Ogutu broke into tears at least three times and the judge had to call for a five-minute recess for her to calm down.

Ogutu, a 24-year-old single mother detained in the Lapu-Lapu City jail, was the lone witness for the defense presented by her pro bono lawyer Ricardo Amores.

The court gave the parties 10 days to submit memoranda.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who arrested her earlier described her as a courier or drug mule for a syndicate.

In her testimony, Ogutu pleaded with the court to believe her.

“I ask the honorable judge to clear my name by dismissing this case because as I said, God knows that I did not bring with me the two packs which contained illegal drugs,” Ogutu said.

The role of a new female friend, who had packed her bag suggested that someone else was involved.

She described how she came to know Selin Okreke through Facebook in March 2011.

Okreke is based in Cotonou, Benin which is a country in west Africa.

They talked about their personal lives and business interests, among others until Okreke visited her in Nairobi, Kenya last June and studied her clothing and fashion business.

Later in September, Ogutu visited Okreke in Benin, a trip paid by her new friend.

When Okreke asked her to take a vacation in another country, “Of course, I said yes because I am so excited to give myself a holiday break and maybe I could expand my business abroad,” Ogutu told the court.

Ogutu said her friend paid for the plane ticket to Cebu and hotel arrangements.

Ogutu left Benin on Sept. 27 on a flight that took her to Addis Ababa; Dubai; and Doha, Qatar before she landed at the Mactan Cebu International Airport last Sept. 29.

Ogutu said she was surprised when law enforcers searched her suitcase and was shocked when she was accused of transporting illegal drugs to Cebu.

“I am innocent of the crime charges against me. I will never entertain the idea to be involvde in the illegal drug business since I do not want to ruin my life,” said Ogutu who has two children in Kenya.

Ogutu said it was her friend who packed her belongings in a brown suitcase when she left Benin.

She said she got the same bag when she arrived in Cebu.

But her lawyer said Ogutu had to change planes in her itinerary before she arrived in Cebu.

“There may have been switching of the bag,” said the defense lawyer.

“We have a strong case,” he said, banking on the lack of a warrant for her arrest.

NBI agents arrested Ogutu after being tipped off about a drug courier delivering shabu on an international flight from Doha, Qatar on board a Qatar Airways flight last Sept. 29.