Ethiopian immigrants land in jail

By MARTIN MUTUA

Twelve Ethiopian immigrants have been fined Sh20,000 by a Nyeri Court for being in the country illegally.

But in default, the immigrants will serve six months in jail.

They appeared before Nyeri Resident Magistrate John Aringo where the charges of being in the country illegally were read out to them in Amharic Language through a translator.

The teary youngsters pleaded guilty to the charges but asked for leniency from the court claiming that although they were in the country illegally, they did not intend to cause any harm.

The translator was called into the court yesterday after the case failed to kick off on Tuesday since the suspects could neither understand English nor Kiswahili.