Three men to hang for stealing pineapples

The Court of Appeal has upheld the death sentence handed to three men who stole 30 pineapples from the Thika-based Delmonte farm.

Julius Mugambi, Edward Mburu and Francis Maina lost their case after the court found they were positively identified as part of a gang of seven intruders.

They are now on death row even though they never got away with the fruits worth Sh1,500. They were forced to abandon the loot when they were chased by a guard dog.

Evidence by the dog handler was crucial in securing the conviction, judges said.

No one was hurt in the robbery except a dog, which bore a deep cut from a machete.

The three were charged with threatening security guards using machetes before stealing the pineapples. They were also charged with unlawfully injuring an animal.

They were first arraigned in the magistrate’s court in Thika on November 1, 2008, where they were tried and sentenced to death.

They filed an appeal at the High Court, arguing there was a mistake in the identification of intruders at the farm on the day.

In opposition, the State submitted that the dog was able to sniff or sense that they were the intruders on the farm that day as the animal was trained.

Identification parade

The court heard there were no other farms and no members of the public nearby, meaning there was no need for an identification parade as there was no doubt over the identity and involvement of the persons involved in the offence.

David Kamau, a dog handler, testified that he released the trained animal when the intruders defied his orders to stop. The dog led him to where they were hiding in the bushes, within the farm, and brought the three out, one by one.

He also confirmed that each had a dog bite. Mr Kamau testified that Mr Mugambi had a sword while Mr Mburu carried a machete.

www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001255612/three-men-to-hang-for-stealing-pineapples

Investments should be protected, at all cost. Let’s hang our corrupt to, not this thing of hanging peasants.

Hapo ndio uwongo iko. Ati the dog brought them out one by one. BS!

Your headline is a bit misleading. I believe the guys were convicted due to armed robbery or robbery with violence

The law is very tough on armed robbers. You are better off conning people 20million in a ponzi scheme, than stealing your neighbours car stereo when armed

This is BS. Hakuna mtu anaweza kuconvict kuiba pineapples unless you did it with some semblence of violence and dropped some bodies

kuna mwingine aliiba sufuria akatunukiwa 4 years behind bars.

There were times they recruited their guards straight from NYS, they clobbered those pineapple thieves to death. Then the thieves formed themselves into larger gangs and clobbered the guards in revenge killings. It was a vicious cycle

Pineapple theft has been a pain in the butt, for del monte kenya. Death sentence will try slow it down.
Go to makenji, between Thila and Kabati, and see pineapple cartels. Merciless thugs .

The death sentence is in line, to stopping this vicious circle. Del monte in the 50’s , people were still stealing.

Armed robbery, I don’t think hiyo panga na sword ilikuwa ya kukata pineapples. Hao watchmen wangeona mwoto.

Does Del Monte process the fruits in Kenya?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: if not, the other, option they have is to ship wholesome pineapples to Europe.

That is a very serious offence! Sasa aliacha mwenye sufuria njaa :stuck_out_tongue:

sufuria ya 150 Bob :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

During the act they were armed,tosha for conviction.