Solomon Kabuthu Zacharia v Republic

REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NANYUKI CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 6 OF 2017 SOLOMON KABUTHU ZACHARIA..................APPELLANT Versus REPUBLIC........................................................RESPONDENT (Being an appeal from the original conviction and sentence by Hon. W J Gichimu Principal Magistrate dated 14th November 2016 in Nanyuki Chief Magistrate Court Criminal Case No. 1021 of 2016) JUDGMENT 1. KABUTHU ZACHARIA was convicted before the Nanyuki Chief Magistrate’s court on his own plea of guilty to a charge of carrying out logging within a National Park contrary to Section 102 (1) (c) of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013. After the trial court received his mitigation it sentenced him to pay a fine of Ksh. 200,000 in default to serve 2 years imprisonment. What he logged in the National Park and was produced before the trial court were four posts of cedar wood. 2. Kabuthu has filed an appeal before this court against his sentence. In his appeal he relied on his written submissions to the effect that the was a first time offender, a family man of three children, his wife passed away while he was serving his sentence, and that the children are being looked after by his father. 3. The appeal was opposed by the Principal Prosecution Counsel Mr. Tanui. His opposition was based on the ground that the trial court’s sentence was as provide in the statute. 4. Section 102 (1) (h) provides the sentence of one convicted of an offence such as the appellant is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than two hundred thousand or to imprisonment of not less than two years or to both. Bearing those provisions I am inclined to agree with the submissions of the Learned Counsel Mr. Tanui. That is the trial court in sentencing the appellant was faithful to the provisions of the Wildlife Conservations and Management Act 2013. The trial court’s sentence therefore cannot be faulted. 5. It is because of the above finding that this appeal against sentence is dismissed. The trial court’s sentence is confirmed. Dated and Delivered at Nanyuki this 4th October 2017

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