Court fines Italian fugitive

A Malindi court yesterday ordered a 67-year-old Italian national to pay a fine of Sh33,000 and later be repatriated to his country after he pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery and being in Kenya illegally. Giovanni De Caro who has been in remand for the last two months after his Sh1 million bond was withdrawn by Malindi chief magistrate Lillian Mutende was convicted on his own plea of guilt. He had applied to take a new plea as he had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Immigration prosecutor Kipkoech Sang told the court that on January 31, 2011 at the immigration offices in Malindi De Caro not being a Kenyan citizen was found to be in the country unlawfully. In the second count he was charged that on the same day he was found to have failed to register as an alien as required by the Alien Restriction Act. Decaro is allegedly wanted in Italy for various crimes he committed and has been hiding in the country for more than 10 years.