Trader acquitted after court finds exhibits tampered with

Court gavel./FILE

A Nairobi businessman has been acquitted of charges of being in possession of and making counterfeit goods after a court found that crucial exhibits had either been lost or tampered with before being produced in court.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi freed Mukinyi Mwakavi, a director of Wincop Services Limited, alongside his company, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Mwakavi and his firm had been charged with two counts of possessing counterfeit goods valued at Sh9.7 million and making counterfeit products worth Sh4 million in contravention of the Anti-Counterfeit Act, 2008.

According to the prosecution, Anti-Counterfeit Authority officers, together with representatives of Hewlett Packard’s Investigators Halliday Finch, raided the Mwikavi's shops on Tsavo Road in Nairobi’s central business district and allegedly seized several counterfeit toners, cartridges, and tools used in their production.

The items were ferried to the Anti-Counterfeit Authority depot at Kyangombe before being moved to a storage facility in Athi River. However, during trial, it emerged that most of the exhibits were never presented in court.

Prosecution witnesses admitted during cross-examination by defence lawyer John Ochieng Ogada, that samples taken for testing had been disposed of before being presented in court.

The records showing the transfer of goods from Kyangombe to Athi River were also never produced.

Ogada argued that the missing records and disposed exhibits showed clear evidence of tampering and that the chain of custody could not be established, making the prosecution case unreliable.

In her judgment, Shitubi agreed, noting that “the integrity of the prosecution’s case was compromised” since many of the exhibits had either disappeared or were interfered with.

While acquitting Mwakavi and his company, the magistrate nonetheless ordered that the seized goods be forfeited to the state.