Court Acquits Four Found with Ivory in Murang’a KahawaTungu April 12, 2024 A Nairobi court acquitted four suspects who had been arrested in 2021 with 100 kilograms of ivory in Murang’a. The Kahawa Law Courts Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage Oenga, on April 9 acquitted Edward Mwambura Kamau, Peter Macharia Njuguna, Martin Mungai Nginya, and Samuel Njuguna Mwirigi, of dealing in wildlife trophies. They had been charged accordingly in July 2021 in Kangari Town, Murang’a County, after allegedly being found with 19 pieces of ivory. The announced weight at the time was 100 kilograms. They were subsequently arraigned and tried at Kahawa Law Courts. The court held that in Kenyan law, cases should be proved beyond reasonable doubt, therefore mere suspicion cannot suffice. The court held that the evidence provided in the prosecution fell under the required standard and it could not proceed to find the accused persons guilty. The evidence was doubtful, and the circumstantial evidence failed to meet the threshold of beyond reasonable doubt, the court said. Kiage acquitted all accused under Section 215 Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The ivory is to remain at Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and an order will be made for its destruction. The collaboration between the KWS and police came up in the case. This is significant as there have been past investigations where police made arrests and charged individuals with offences under the Wildlife Management Conservation Act (WMCA), leaving KWS to administer the file as the prosecution continued through the courts. Information sharing and collaboration were not optimal and a challenge for KWS. In this particular instance, while the IO is from KWS, the issues may well not be of his, or KWS’ making. The men were charged with dealing in wildlife trophies of an endangered species without a permit contrary to Section 92(2) of the Wildlife Management Conservation Act. The court said while there was mention of a KWS undercover ‘buyer’, no evidence of communication between the ‘buyer’ (or any other arresting officer) and any accused was provided to the court. It added the owner of the vehicle that was found to contain the 62 kilos of ivory could not be traced and was not brought to court. The court observed the investigating officer had told the court that there was no evidence to indicate that accused were communicating with each other and he had also stated he could not confirm why the second accused was arrested. The court was told that a forensic analysis of phones was not conducted as the phones could not be opened due to lack of PIN access. The IO had testified that in admissions made to him, the first accused had custody of ivory and the third accused was a broker for the fourth accused. The court observed, however, that there was no evidence that the IO had followed the parameters as set out in Section 25 of the Evidence Act on receiving a confession statement and therefore, the evidence could not be supported. It is also to be noted that in the well publicized arrest, it was announced that 19 pieces of ivory weighing 100 kilograms had been seized. On arraignment, the weight of the ivory had decreased by 38 kilograms to 62 kilograms. It was suggested that it was due to different scales being used. The court also suggested to the prosecution that in these cases, the evidence should be such that it provides a clear picture of events. As such, the prosecution should provide advice to investigators. Elephant tusks fetch a fortune in the black market as a surge in demand for ivory in the East continues to fuel the illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa. Officials say despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers. https://kahawatungu.com/court-acquits-four-found-with-ivory-in-muranga/