Victor Bwire, a cousin to convicted terrorist Elgiva Bwire, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of conspiring to attack the KICC building in 2019.
In sentencing him, Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi said terrorism is a heinous offence which in his view calls for a stiff deterrent sentence.
"In this case, the choice of target was KICC. That's an aggravating factor. It's an icon and landmark for Kenya. A leasing facility for meetings which also houses VIPs," Ochoi said.
The magistrate took note of the pre-sentencing report which indicates that the building can accommodate up to 10,000 guests at a time.
He also said KICC is a tourism site.
"Had the attack been successful, the impact would have been dire," Ochoi said.
During mitigation, Bwire pleaded with the court to give him a non-custodial sentence.
He asked the court to consider that he is a father of two and he was under depression at the time.
The prosecution asked for a maximum penalty.
They said Bwire together with another suspect identified as Mohammed Abdallah were conspiring to collect information on KICC for purpose of committing a terrorism act.
The purpose was to bring down the building and cause loss of life.
The prosecution told the court that the USA offered 10 million USD for information to trace the accused person's accomplice.
The prosecution asked the court to consider the fact that, if the accused person's plans were successful the effects would have been devastating to the country.
On 17 January, Ochoi convicted the accused based on four key strands of evidence.
He narrowed down on the nature of engagement Bwire had with his conspirators Mohamed Abdalla Yare and Abdul Hakim, the instructions he received to conceal his identity, the nature of surveillance and movements and the surveilling of KICC.
The court said the intention to commit the terrorist act at KICC was inferred from the Facebook conversations the accused had with his masterminds who were not in Kenya.
The reliance on the conversations which give an account of intricate details of KICC buildings as evidence in the case was highly contested by the defence.
They said the Facebook records were inadmissible as no witness was called from Facebook to testify.
But the court dismissed their argument after observing the evidence of an FBI agent who came to Kenya during the pendency of the case.
The agent who testified in court said an order was given by a judge in the US allowing a search of the Facebook accounts.
It was on this account that the court disregarded the argument of inadmissibility by the defence.
Bwire according to the case presented in court by the prosecution, was instructed by his cousin Elgiva to open a Facebook account through which he would receive instructions from his conspirators.
He collected and transmitted information for Yare on the security management of KICC.
They were three Facebook accounts. He used proxy names and opened the accounts using lost ID cards.
The accounts were later discovered to be his following a forensic analysis by the DCI.
He admitted to opening the accounts and communicating with Yare and the team but denied claims of using them to facilitate an attack.
The information on KICC is part of the evidence that formed part of the case.
Yare had sought to know the level and seriousness of the searches at the entrance to KICC to which Bwire said there was laxity displayed by the security officers manning the building.
He also gave out the number of gates to the KICC building, doors leading to the Tsavo ballroom and parking areas within the area.
Bwire described all these scenarios in detail to his co-conspirators. The communication according to the prosecution was taking place through the proxy accounts he created on Facebook.
"At the beginning of the conversations and at the point where Bwire is introducing himself to Abdul Hakim, he is asked whether he is ready for the job at hand to which he confirms he is," Ochoi said.
"The court from the evidence on record said Bwire was given a warning of the hard task that lied ahead and he should never trust anyone, not even his friends, wife or sheikhs."
He is then asked to read certain books to prepare him and given timelines to finish. It is these kinds of engagements the court said are consistent with a plan to engage in terrorist activity.
The magistrate explained the fact that Bwire was also asked to conceal his identity is an indicator of the intentions they had.
"He was advised to drop the use of his mobile phone number and instead use a Facebook account. For instance, the account Kezia Soze was opened using a line belonging to one Irene Ndinda," the magistrate said.
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