Terror suspect Jermaine Grant acquitted of nine charges

MOMBASA: The State last evening lost a two-year case against British terror suspect Jermaine Grant who was facing nine forgery charges.

Mombasa Resident Magistrate Anastacia Ndungu declared that the prosecution had failed to prove any of the nine charges against the Briton.

She said what the State advanced as evidence fell "far below the threshold of standard of proof".

"The court acquitted him in spite of overwhelming evidence. I have given instructions for an appeal to be lodged," the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said in a statement.

Two years ago, the State brought nine forgery charges against Grant, alleging that he unlawfully tried to prepare a birth certificate and school leaving certificate of Tom Mboya Primary School in Mombasa and used them to try and acquire a Kenya ID at Tausa village on September 19 and 26 in 2011.

He was also charged with trying to illegally acquire a Kenyan ID under the name Robert Mwakio Mwata in Taita Taveta County.

The State alleged that Grant hired an elderly couple to pose as his grandparents.