Petitioner seeks judge Mrima's removal over Kinoti sentencing

A Kenyan has filed a petition before the Judicial Service Commission seeking the removal of Justice Anthony Mrima over his decision to send DCI George Kinoti to jail.

Michael Makarina has accused Justice Mrima of incompetence and gross misconduct in the way he handled the case involving businessman Jimmy Wanjigi in which Kinoti was sentenced to four months civil jail.

Makarina, through lawyer Danstan Omari, says the judge demonstrated lack of impartiality in dealing with the case, adding that the sentence was issued on his insistence that Wajingi's guns were in Kinoti’s possession.

Makarina wants the commission to investigate the conduct of the judge to ascertain if he was influenced in order to make the decision he did.

He argues that the judge ignored the sentencing policy guidelines that the court is bound to follow when passing a sentence to any convict in order to avoid irrational sentences, especially the courts notorious preference to custodial as opposed to non-custodial sentences.

Makarina argues that it is appalling and a clear abuse of the judicial discretion to have witnessed Judge run over the DCI and to have convicted him to jail for four months without any other option for the decision of the court while being ignorant of the evidence.

He says Justice Mrima was biased and incompetent in the way he handled the case.