British terrorist jailed for four years in Mombasa

British citizen Jermain Grant at the Mombasa Court on May 9, 2019 during his sentencing. He was found guilty and convicted of possessing explosive materials. [Kelvin Karani/Standard]

British national Jermaine Grant has been jailed for four years after he was found guilty of possessing bomb-making material.

Last month, a magistrate convicted Grant on a single charge of possession of explosives, after finding that the prosecution had proved that the Briton was preparing a bomb to detonate in Mombasa.

Grant has been in detention for close to 10 years.

Under Kenyan laws, one can be jailed for a maximum of seven years when convicted of the crime, but yesterday the court ruled that the suspect had been in custody since 2011.

Grant, who is being detained at Shimo la Tewa Maximum Security Prison, has been linked to Al Shabaab and the 2005 bombings in London's underground railroad.

He is serving a nine-year term, reduced last month to six years, following a forgery conviction in 2015.

Case dragging

He has previously served and completed a two-year term for illegal entry and stay in Kenya and was acquitted of a robbery charge about eight years ago in a Nairobi court.

In June 2009, militants from Somalia raided Dadajabulla Police Post in Wajir to rescue him from Kenyan police.

Mombasa Chief Magistrate Evans Makori handed Grant the four-year sentence after considering the eight years the case had taken in a lower court.

“The accused is presently serving a lawful sentence of nine years for other offences for which he was jailed in 2015. This is the only case which has dragged on for eight years” said Makori.

He was charged in November 2011 alongside four other suspects, including his wife Warda Breik and Frank Ngala, who were acquitted on April 24 for lack of evidence.

One other co-accused, Fuad Abubakar Manswab, jumped bail and escaped to Somalia. All the defendants denied the charges.

Makori concurred with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jacob Ondari that Grant deserved custodial sentence because of the gravity of the offence.

He said Grant's criminal history was clear and in order to protect the community from people like him, he must be kept away from the public.

He also said he was convinced Grant was going to prepare explosives for terrorism purposes.

Despite offence

Makori observed that despite the offence carrying a maximum sentence of seven years, the magistrate could use his discretion on the duration of the jail term since Grant been in detention for long. During the hearing, Grant denied that the chemicals that were found in the house belonged to him.