Kenyan meted life term for transporting shabu

Kenyan national Asha Atieno Ogutu collapsed in tears yesterday when her verdict was read in court.

The mother of two was sentenced to life imprisonment for transporting three kilos of shabu found in her luggage upon arrival at the Mactan Cebu International Airport last Sept. 29, 2011.

She was also ordered to pay P3 million.

Ogutu fell into the arms of security escorts after the verdict of Judge Toribio Quiwag of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 27 in Lapu-Lapu City was read out.

Under Philippine law, a life term actually runs up to 40 years.

Defense lawyer Ricardo Amores said they will ask the Supreme Court to review the decision.

“The court discussed the side of the prosecution only. There was no discussion on the claims of the defense,” Amores said.

He said the Philippines and Kenya have an extradition treaty and that she can be deported after serving 40 years in prison.

Yesterday, she was escorted to the courthouse by 10 guards and Fr. Martin Ilozue, a Nigerian priest.

Ogutu kept quiet and composed until the verdict was read. She refused to be interviewed.

The last time Ogutu talked to her mother by phone was in November last year. Ogutu, who is unmarried, has two sons.

“(Before the proceedings), I told her, ‘You have to prepare yourself because the ball is not in our hands but with the judge,’” Amores said.

About 10 grams of the three kilos seized from Ogutu’s luggage were used as evidence in her case. The remaining stash were flushed down the toilet last November.

Judge Quiwag said he found Ogutu’s denial insufficient to prove her innocence. She was the lone witness for the defense.

Her lawyer objected to her warrantless search and arrest at the airport even though agents of the National Bureau of Investigation were tipped off in advance about a report of a transport of illegal drugs in Cebu.

Lapu-Lapu City Asst. Prosecutor Dinah Portugal said it was a “valid warrantless search.”

“Ogutu’s arrest was validly effected under the provision of the Rules of Court or the arrest of a suspect caught in the act after proper determination that she had in her possession a dangerous drug,” the judge said.

Ogutu said she never saw illegal drugs in her life until she was arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

She said her friend, a certain Selin Okreke, had arranged for her travel to Cebu.

Ogutu’s itinerary took her to Addis Ababa; Dubai; and Doha, Qatar, before landing in the Mactan airport last Sept. 29, 2011. /Ador Vincent Mayol and Patricia Andrea Pateña with Correspondents Fe Marie Dumaboc and Norman V. Mendoza