Wording error earned buffalo killers freedom

Kenya: When a gunshot heard in Ragati Forest, Nyeri on the night of November 6, 2005, there was little doubt who the rifle was aimed at.

The killer bullet was most likely aimed a frightened antelope galloping away at breakneck speed or an incensed buffalo charging at a rifle-wielding poacher.

True to form, on this night, a hapless buffalo had just been felled, and would in the next few minutes become a delicacy for some cold-blooded poachers with a fetish for game meat.

But the script of what was probably the poachers’ daily misadventures in the Ragati bushes would be different that day.

A platoon of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers cut the party short, just as the two men – later identified as Samuel Mwangi and Stephene Gichuru – were skinning the buffalo.

A spear, two pangas, a snare and two bags were also recovered at the scene by the KWS rangers and produced as evidence in court.

A Nyeri Magistrates' Court subsequently found the two men guilty and jailed them for 10 years each.

But the celebration for environmental conservationists from the consoling court judgment would be short-lived.

Two years later, the High Court freed the two men, citing an error in the wording of charge sheet, relied upon by the court to jail the suspects.

High Court Judge Milton Makhadia ruled that although the evidence tendered showed that the two men had indeed killed the buffalo, the charge sheet was unclear whether what they had done was legal or illegal.

The judge noted that the two were charged with illegal hunting, implying that there is some hunting that is legal.

“The charge sheet is not specific as to whether the appellants were authorised or unauthorised hunters,” ruled the judge.

The judge thus directed: “Arising from the foregoing, it is my conviction that these appeals have tremendous merit ... I allow each appeal, quash the conviction and set aside the sentences imposed on each appellant.”

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