Form Four student found with bhang gets 18 months’ probation

EMBU: A Form Four student has been sentenced to serve an 18-month probation service after she pleaded guilty to being in possession of bhang.

The female student from Kanyama Secondary School in Nyeri County admitted before Baricho Principal Magistrate Evans Keago that she had been in possession of four rolls of the drug valued at Sh80.

Last Wednesday, students from different schools in Central Province were caught smoking bhang and having sex inside a bus. On the fateful day, the student is said to have attempted to throw the bhang through the bus window at the Kiangwaci Police road block but could not as police officers were too close. She then decided to conceal the drug on her body and upon being searched by the police, the rolls were discovered hidden in her underwear.

According to Probation Officer Nancy Kabue, who investigated and compiled the student’s biography and submitted it to the court on Monday, the accused has previously been of good conduct both at home and in school.

The officer said given the circumstances under which the drug fell into the student’s possession and the remorse she had shown since the offence was committed, it was enough to warrant her non-custodial sentence.

“Her parents and the school principal, from whom I gathered from the accused’s past history, were all shocked to learn the student could have been caught up in such a situation given her past honest and obedient life,” the officer said in her report.

Mr Keago consequently placed the student on 18-months’ probation.