A court session turned deeply emotional after Milimani Chief Magistrate Honourable Dolphina Alego put aside her legal veil to offer useful counsel to seven students arrested following the death of their colleague who fell from a storey building in Ngara.

Before the matter could proceed, Alego sought to find out the students who acknowledged they’d been partying on the fateful night, the benefits drinking alcohol?

The seven are; Wendy, Austine Ochieng, Precious Mutembei, Louis Osiro, Morrison, Ali Kabwana, Dennis Kariuki Gitonga.

She asked each one of them state one benefit of drinking alcohol, especially using money sent to them by their parents.

It was a reflective moment as all the arraigned were unable to point out one benefit of drinking alcohol, some of them indicating they were teetotalers.

“Your parents send you money and you choose to drink. I speak to you now as a mother, not as a magistrate. I’m not writing at this stage I’m a parent,” she assured and called on parents present in court to use the opportunity to offer words of counsel to their children.

She first called on Gitonga’s elder brother to talk to his young sibling and asked a lawyer who wanted to address court to allow her a moment with the “children”

“There are times we say watoto wametushinda. Counsel I don’t want any discussion now, allow me to talk to this children as mine. Alternatively, I’ll send everybody out nikae na hawa watoto wangu, I don’t want any disturbances. I want the children to hear from their parents. I know they’re in a very bad space as parents.

“As a big brother what would you want to tell Kariuki? We are not judging them, we are counseling them. They said they were from the party, but what we are hearing from the lawyers is that they have to go back to school. I’m balancing between the party and going back to school which was more, and I know all you parents are shocked because you knew the students were in school,” explained the magistrate.

Kariuki’s brother was requested to be honest and help the magistrate to get a mitigating factor corresponding with what the lawyers had said.

“You must be careful about every action you take. It’s quite sad. It’s shocking to hear because you’ve never been in such a scenario before. You just need to focus on what took you to school,” the brother said.

The dad said: “You have to be very careful. Hii mambo ya pombe itakusumbua.”

“Ericko umeskia hiyo,” the magistrate followed up after the sibling and father addressed the accused.

Ali’s mother, nearly sobbing in court said: “Inauma sana. Ali mdogo wako kaniuliza umefanyaje. Ali kafanyaje? Nashindwa kumjibu mtoto. Utamjibu vipi? Hajaona chochote baya kafanya kaka yake. Hajawahi kutana na kesi yeyote kama hiyo. Hata tukitoka hapa ataenda kunuiliza umeenda kortini mama, Ali kafanyaje?”

“Ali utamwambia nini mama,” the magistrate asked.

“First of all I’m remorseful to the family of the deceased. Secondly to my mum, I’m sorry because she didn’t expect this. I’d told her that we were going to a musical event. However, there was liquor which we took,” said Ali.

Consequences of drinking and party life.

“Ile pesa kidogo wazazi wanatumia mnakunywa.
I don’t think there is any parent here who gives you money to drink, that’s why all your parents are shocked. And worst of all, you’ve lost a life, just as all your parents have said. Not because the person was well but because you did something that was uncalled for. Do you all realise the consequences?” Posed the Magistrate.

The magistrate asked the students if they’d continue drinking after the situation they’d gotten in.

“So, the drinking can continue? The one with a young child, you didn’t even sleep with your baby.” The magistrate probed the priorities of one of the arrested students who had left her baby with the grandparents (her parents.)

Magistrate Alego, despite being gentle on the students, was alive to the fact that life would not be the same again and advised the students to go for counselling as they prepare to face the family of their deceased friend.

“It’s not going to be business as usual and you’ll need counselling. You need to meet the family of the deceased. I’ve heard they’re investigating you for murder.

“I’m doing this as a mother, not as a magistrate, because I can put myself in all what your parents have said. It cannot be the same again. You need to sit down and reflect,” Alego added.

She reminded the students to reflect about the sacrifices their parents make to keep them in school and make wise decisions going forward.

“The only thing most parents do now is to take loans to take you to school. You’ve heard that mum crying, because hakuna shamba ya kuwapatia, ni hio masomo pekee yake. It’s the only thing nobody can steal from you. Everyone walks with their degree in their head,” Alego counselled.

She further called on the parents to get support teams for their children in the next seven days after the court session.

“Talk to them. Breathe in and out. It’s not easy, but it’s not the worst because there’s that parent who has lost their child,” she advised.

To the students she said: “For you, I’ll still have a session with you when I’m not sitting in court.”

Story courtesy of Court Helicopter News.