A court has handed a Laikipia man a five-year jail sentence for possession of an elephant tusk worth Sh400,000.
Hillary Lagat, 26, was found guilty of being in possession of game trophy in 2018.
The charge sheet says Lagat was found with an elephant tusk without a permit from the Kenya Wildlife Service on October 19, 2018, along Sipili – Kinamba road in Laikipia.
He denied the charge and was released on a Sh400,000 bail when he appeared in court on October 22, 2018.
On Thursday, Nyahururu chief magistrate Charles Obulutsa said evidence presented in court proved Lagat had the tusk.
“The prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and the court proceeds to convict the accused as charged,” the magistrate ruled.
In mitigation, Lagat pleaded for leniency, saying that he was a first offender and the sole breadwinner of his family.
“I am pleading with the court to be lenient to me because I was also beaten and injured during the time of the arrest by the officers,” he told the court.
The court gave him 14 days to appeal its verdict.
(edited by o. owino)
