By Lazarus Maitha
A Second-Year student at Moi University accused of ivory trafficking moved court attendees to tears on Tuesday, when he alleged that his girlfriend’s father fixed him after she [girlfriend] refused to end a romantic relationship with the suspect.
Japheth Bakari was on May 16 arrested in possession of 8.5Kgs of ivory whose street value is Ksh850, 000.
Bakari alongside another suspect, Ibrahim Ali, were nabbed at Mwembe Tayari in Mombasa with the ivory concealed in a sack of maize.
KWS officers, who facilitated the arrests following "intelligence reports", said they laid a trap at the bus terminal and arrested the two after they arrived in Mombasa from Kitale.
But, when one of the suspects, Bakari, appeared before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Edna Nyaloti, he gave a different narrative implicating his lover’s father.
Bakari, who is a Bachelor of Arts student, was allegedly in a relationship with a female Fifth-Year Bachelor of Medicine student at Moi University main campus in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
Bakari claims his lover’s father was against their relationship from the onset, claiming that the suspect was “too poor” to date his daughter.
The female learner’s father, Bakari claims, is a “rich and well-known Kenyan tycoon”.
The suspect told the court he believes that his girlfriend’s dad planted the eight pieces of ivory in the sack, which contained maize. According to Bakari, it is his girlfriend's dad who gave him the maize sack as a "gift".
“Your honour, police, who are witnesses in this case, know the owner of the 8.5Kgs of ivory I was found with. The owner, I would say, is my girlfriend’s father,” said Bakari.
“When I got into a relationship with his daughter, the tycoon warned me against dating the girl, saying I was from a poor background, and, therefore, there was no way I would be in a relationship with his daughter. Out of fear, I ended the relationship. My girlfriend, however, pleaded with me not to leave her. I, thus, continued with the relationship. It was then that her father told me: ‘I’ll ensure you rot in jail’,” Bakari told the court.
“Your honour, I have talked to my girlfriend, and she says she is willing to testify before the court on what happened that day, given I was with her during my arrest,” the suspect told magistrate Nyaloti.
-Bond terms-
The suspect also pleaded with the court to review downwards his bond terms, saying the Ksh10 million that he was slapped with was “too high for me to raise”. He has requested magistrate Nyaloti to free him on Ksh100, 000.
“My studies at Moi University are sponsored by a missionary church. And, even the Ksh100, 000 bond that I am requesting for is still too high for me to raise. Though, I am banking on my friends at Moi University to help me raise the money,” said Bakari.
Bakari will be detained at the Shimo La Tewa remand prison.
He is expected back in court on September 30 for the mention of his case.
