Kabarnet: A middle-aged woman will serve a 12-year jail term after a Kabarnet court found her guilty of trading in wildlife trophies. Esther Chebii appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Edwin Mulochi for the offense, which occurred on May 27, 2023, at around 6 p.m. in Kabarnet town, Baringo central sub-county. She was apprehended with five pieces of elephant tusks weighing 15.7 kilograms and 105 pieces of pangolin scales weighing two kilograms, with a street value of Sh2.37 million.
According to Kenya News Agency, Chebii was charged with dealing in wildlife trophies of a critically endangered species without a permit or other lawful exemption, contrary to section 92 (2) of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013. In a second count, she was charged with possession of a critically endangered species, also without a permit or lawful exemption, contrary to section 92(4) as read with section 105 of the same act.
The court heard that officers from the Kenya Wildlife Service received an intelligence report about a woman attempting to sell elephant tusks in Kabarnet town. The officials posed as buyers, negotiating the price from Sh70,000 to Sh20,000 per kilogram. Chebii allegedly promised to bring the tusks from her village home to Kabarnet town and agreed to meet the officials at Kabarnet Paradise Plaza, where she was arrested. The items were found in a large sack and two small bags.
Chebii, who pleaded not guilty, claimed during her defense that she was in Kabarnet town to seek medical treatment for her ailing mother and was caught with luggage that did not belong to her near Equity Bank. However, Mulochi ruled that the investigations proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Chebii was guilty of the offenses charged.
Mulochi sentenced Chebii to seven years for the first count under section 92(2) of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act. For the second count, she was fined Sh3 million or, in default, to serve a five-year sentence. Both sentences will run concurrently from the date she entered her plea on May 29, 2023.