Premium
'Witchdoctor' loses bid to have Sh18m, vehicles returned to him
From left: Nabil Loo Mohamed, Bakari Kali Bakari, Lilian Benard Martin and Stephen Vicker Mangira when they appeared before Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Diana Mochache on charges of trafficking 540.88gms of Heroin valued at Sh1.62million.
Self-proclaimed witchdoctor Steven Vicker Mangira has lost a bid to repossess expensive cars and more than Sh18 million in cash seized from him in 2017.
The High Court in Mombasa declined to reverse the decision of a lower court that rejected his request to get the items back.
Justice Anne Ong’injo noted that the trial court could not have issued an order to release the items when there are two pending cases in the superior court and preservation orders that are still in force.
“The magistrate would have overstepped her mandate. The application for review is hereby dismissed for being an abuse of the court process,” the judge said.
A Shanzu court in May acquitted Mr Mangira and three others of several charges including money laundering, drug trafficking and possessing suspected unlawfully obtained property.
After the acquittal, he asked Chief Magistrate Florence Macharia to release the money and the vehicles, which were taken from him when he was arrested.
But the magistrate rejected the request on the grounds that the items were the subject of proceedings in the High Court.
Aggrieved, Mr Mangira, through his lawyer Kinyua Kamundi, sued in the High Court for a review of the trial magistrate’s decision.
He argued that the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) did not seek any order to hold the items after he was acquitted and that the trial court had no jurisdiction to make civil orders in criminal proceedings.
ARA had opposed the request, saying it was frivolous and vexatious and an abuse of the court process because it could not be used as an appeal against the preservation orders made by the High Court.
In the criminal case, Mr Mangira said he is a registered herbalist and he made his money through the work.
To facilitate his business, he said he gets his herbs from forests and mountains or as directed by “angels”.
He said in court documents that he has clients in Kenya and across the world who have appreciated his work by either giving him cash or awarding him expensive vehicles to cover the cost of treatment.
But because the State offered no evidence to contradict Mr Mangira’s defence, the court acquitted him of criminal charges.
Prosecutors, however, obtained the High Court’s nod to appeal the acquittal.