Meru man captured on video killing elephant arraigned
Paul Ndung’u
One of the suspects seen in a viral video last month butchering an elephant at Imenti forest in Meru county was arraigned in a Nanyuki court yesterday.
Kenneth Baabu Muthaura was charged with killing an elephant without lawful authority.
He denied the charges before Resident Magistrate Vincent Masivo that on June 21, 2018, together with others not before the court, he willfully killed an elephant without authority.
Earlier, Kenya Wildlife Service Assistant Director in charge of Eastern Conservation Area Michael Wanjau while speaking in Nanyuki said that Muthaura was positively identified from the shocking video that circulated widely on social media platforms on November 19.
The suspect was arrested together with two others but they were let off the hook because they could not be linked to the incident.
Wanjau said that they managed to trace him to his home in Meru where he was positively identified by local elders and relatives as one of the persons who were seen in the video killing the elephant and he was arrested.
He further revealed that 10 other suspects also identified from the video were being sought for the same offence and would soon be arrested to face charges of killing the animal.
“Our investigations revealed that the incident took place on June 21, 2018 when a report was made of an elephant that had been killed by villagers in Imenti forest and our officers visited the site and recovered the tusks,” added Wanjau.
He further said that the KWS officers took bone samples from the dead animal that would be used to conduct DNA forensic matching with the tusks to be presented as evidence in court.
