Two people including a university student, have been found guilty of being in possession 6.5kgs of elephant tusk.
A Mombasa court convicted Ibrahim Samon and Japhet Bakari Mbuguni for two counts of dealing with wildlife trophies.
The duo was accused of possessing eight pieces of ivory worth Sh650,000.
They were also accused of being in possession of ivory without permit or legal exemption.
They allegedly committed the crimes on May 19, 2019.
Chief magistrate Edna Nyaloti fined Samon Sh10 million for the first count and Sh3 million for the second charge.
Failure to pay the fine, Samon will serve seven years for the first count and three years for the second offence.
The court however postponed the sentencing of Mbuguni who is a Moi University student.
Nyaloti ordered the accused to undergo a pre-sentence assessment before he is sentenced.
The magistrate said the prosecution had proven their case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
Nyaloti further said the court was convinced that the duo was arrested with the trophies and it was not disputed that both of them travelled on the said bus.
The magistrate said the court was further satisfied with the evidence adduced before it as it was not contradictory and inconsistent as the accused had claimed.
She further said the intelligence report that led to the accused arrest was corroborated with their arrest.
“It has been proven and the court is convinced that the accused committed the offence,” Nyaloti said.
The magistrate said Samon had tried to cover his tracks so as not to be connected with the ivory as he deliberately pushed the second accused to book their bus tickets under his name.
The court heard that the pieces of elephant tusks were hidden inside a bag of maize which the accused had ferried from Kitale using a Tahmeed bus.
During the defence hearing, the first accused said he was arrested at Mwembe Tayari after he had alighted from a bus coming from Kapenguria where he stayed.
The second accused said the father of his girlfriend was not happy with his relationship with his daughter and he had vowed to deal with him.
He said the two bus tickets belonged to him and his girlfriend and not his co-accused.
-Edited by SKanyara
