Java boss out of jail on bail

By Evelyn Kwamboka

Former Java Coffee Managing Director John Cardon Wagner has been released under tight conditions from Kamiti Maximum Prison pending his appeal.

The American, who spent his Christmas in jail after he was found guilty of defiling three girls, was ordered to deposit Sh1 million and his passport to the Deputy Registrar of the High Court in Nairobi.

"I hold that this is a fit and proper case for the grant of bail pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s appeal," Justice Mohammed Warsame said in his ruling.

Issuing the orders, Justice Warsame also ordered that Wagner’s names be supplied to all Immigration Department exit points in the country.

He said this will stop the man, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, from leaving the court’s jurisdiction without permission or determination of his appeal.

Wagner’s appeal challenging his conviction and sentence will be mentioned on February 18.

Wagner was sentenced to 15 years in jail after the magistrate’s court found him guilty of defiling three girls aged between 13 and 14 years.

He was jailed along with his two co-accused Judy Nyaguthii and Faith Nyawira, who were sentenced to 10 years each for exposing the girls to prostitution.

In December last year, he told the judge that appeal has 21 grounds and an overwhelming chance of success because it is merited and not frivolous.

He said the trial magistrate erred in her judgment.

Through his advocate Pravin Bowry, Wagner said the magistrate amended the charge sheet in her judgment, a move he termed unlawful.

"The learned magistrate in her wisdom decided to amen the charges in her judgment. Amending the charges amounted to entering dust in the trial," he said.

He argued that the prosecution did not request for the amendment of the charge sheet.