A cow thief has been sentenced to three year’s jail by a Siakago court. Milton Njiru who appeared before Principal Magistrate Samuel Mukua denied stealing the animal worth sh15,000.

But the complainant, Josephine Murugi, said she had tethered the animals along with others near her house and left for the market where she sold bananas.

She told the court that her brother called her on phone to inform her that someone was selling her animal in the livestock yard behind the main fresh produce market.

On rushing to the yard, she found the accused with the animal before police officers from Siakago station were called and apprehended him.

Njiru however denied the offence but chose to remain silent when put on defence after prosecutor Samuel Otieno closed the case. In his ruling, the magistrate observed that though there was no evidence the accused stole the cow, he was found with the animal on the material day.

“He chose to remain silent in his defence hence no satisfactory explanation from him,” noted the magistrate.

The prosecutor said Njiru was not a first offender as he had previously served three years at Shimo La Tewa prison in yet another criminal offence. The accused had to undergo age assessment at Mbeere District hospital before he was found to be over 18 years and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

In Machakos, a man appeared charged with breaking into houses of administration police officers and stealing goods worth Sh20,000, which included a TV set, a DVD player, two jungle jackets, two pairs of jungle trousers, military boots, and other items which were found in his house.