Court finds Briton guilty of possession of bomb materials

British terror suspect Jermaine Grant has been convicted of being in possession of bomb making materials that were to be used in launching a terror attack in Kenya.

In a ruling delivered in Mombasa on Wednesday, the court said that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the chemicals the suspect was found with were to be used in making of an explosive for purposes of committing a terrorist act.

Chief Magistrate Evans Makori, who read the judgement, said the literature found in the accused's residence together with information extracted from a flash disk, also recovered from him, clearly indicated that the items were to be used to make an explosive.

"There is no doubt Grant was going to prepare explosives for terrorism purposes which would have had a deadly outcome," the magistrate said in the judgement that was written by Senior Principal Magistrate Joyce Gandani.

NO EVIDENCE

But Grant was acquitted of the offence of conspiracy to commit a terror attack in the country due to lack of evidence.

The court ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that the suspect conspired with his co-accused, Frank Ngala and Warda Breik, to commit the offence.

Ngala and Breik were acquitted for lack of evidence.

The court said the prosecution did not provide evidence to support the charge of conspiracy.

Mr Ngala, a matatu driver, was charged with the offence after detectives claimed a mobile phone belonging to Grant was recovered from him.

Ms Breik is said to have been newly married to Grant at the time of the commission of the offence.

HOUSE

During his trial, Grant informed the court that the room where chemicals used in making bombs were found by police belonged to his co-accused, Fuad Abubakar Manswab.

Mr Fuad, who had been admitted to a Sh20 million bond, absconded court in 2012 and detectives suspect he is hiding in Somalia.

Police recovered the items on December 19, 2011 in Kisauni, Mombasa where the suspects were arrested.

Grant is also serving a two-year jail term after pleading guilty to the offence of being in Kenya illegally on December 20, 2011.

FORGERY

In addition, the British terror suspect is serving another nine-year jail term after the High Court in Mombasa found him guilty of forgery.

Grant is serving the sentence for the offence of making a false statement for birth registration, procuring the execution of a document by false pretence and attempt to procure registration by false pretence.

The British terror suspect was jailed for nine years after the High Court overturned a magistrate court's decision that had acquitted him for lack of evidence.

This is after the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed against the acquittal.

Grant will be sentenced on May 9.