A 35 year old Kenyan national who was served a three year jail term by a Swedish court in Summer has been added two more years in prison by a Swedish Appeals court. The Kenyan was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of infecting a 14 year old Swedish girl with HIV. The Kenyan will also pay a fine of 1.3 million kr (about 13 million Kenyan shillings), up from 800.000 kr he was to pay following initial sentence.
At the initial trial in Stockholm, the Kenyan was freed of charges of having had unprotected sex with a 57 year old woman and seriously assaulting her. After the sentence, the Prosecution appealed against the judgement and sought to have the Kenyan jailed for crimes he had allegedly committed against the 57 year old woman.
The new sentence means that the Kenyan will now serve a total of 5 years in prison. The Bench was divided on the judgement with one member taking the position that the Kenyan was not guilty of charges related to the 57 year old.
Through his brother resident in Sweden, the Kenyan thanked fellow countrymen who have been supporting him during his tribulations with the Swedish authorities. He thanked a couple who has continued to support his family economically in Kenya since he was taken into custody while he also thanked Mrs Grace Nyambura for continued support.
The jailed Kenyan also thanked everybody who has been praying for him and said that in prison, he intends to take a course in “Counselling” so that when he is released from prison, he can begin to counsel people.
He advised Kenyans who are in the HIV risk zone to test themselves and establish their HIV status saying that what happened to him could happen to anybody. He said that he never infected the 14 year old knowingly and added that he still could not understand exactly how the whole infection allegedly happened.
He warned Kenyans who have relationships with white Swedish women and told them to be careful because of the risk of landing in prison without proper reasons.
The Kenyan thanked KSB for having carried a mature and balanced report questioning certain aspects of his trial together with the whole process of the Swedish legal system especially when it came to Africans.
He said that KSB had asked “Who was next” in the Swedish system of injustice and pointed out that the fact that another Kenyan is now facing charges similar to his and brought by a Swedish woman should be proof that members of the Kenyan society in Sweden should watch out.
The Kenyan’s brother told KSB that the family will continue to support their kin in whatever way possible and appealed to Kenyans to continue praying for him and the entire family. The brother also thanked the Kenyan Embassy for having visited the Kenyan in custody and hoped that in future, the Embassy will do more to help Kenyans in similar situations.
Okoth Osewe
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