How Kenyan woman attempted to fly to Canada using fake documents
A woman who illegally attempted to travel to Canada has been slapped with a Sh1 million fine.
Diannah Moraa Nyaigoti will spend 21 months in prison if she fails to raise the fine.
While imposing the sentence, Milimani Law Courts senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi said ‘many people have used deceit to travel overseas and once they encounter difficulties they turn to Kenyan Embassies in those countries they sneaked to for assistance’.
Ochoi recommended harsh penalties on those ‘using forged documents leave the country’.
Ms Nyaigoti pleaded guilty to three counts of using a fake Canadian High Commission letter dated October 11, 2022, that confirmed ‘the loss of of her Canadian Resident Card Number 6139-0420’.
The fourth charge was that she (Ms Nyaigoti) misled an Immigration Officer Rebecca Toto, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by declaring her Canadian Resident Permit (CRP) Number 6139-0420 is lost, a fact she knew to be false.
Prosecuting James Machira informed the magistrate the accused was intending to fly to Canada via Addis Ababa from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
Machira said an Immigration Officer at JKIA detected the anomaly in the letter presented at the departure point.
Ms Toto cross-checked with the relevant authorities at the foreign mission and it was discovered the letter dated October 11, 2022 about the lost CRP was a forgery.
In her mitigation, Ms Nyaigoti pleaded for mercy claiming she was misled.
Passing the sentence, the magistrate said Kenyans who sneak out of the country cry foul when confronted with tough issues which degrade their fundamental rights.
For the three forgery charges, the magistrate slapped the accused to cough a fine of Sh900,000 or serve 18 months imprisonment while for misleading Ms Toto she will pay Sh100,000 or serve three months in prison custody.
The sentences will run consecutively.
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