A-20-year- old man alleged to have been behind a series of banditry attacks in Baringo, Turkana and Samburu counties has been arrested and arraigned before a Kabarnet court charged with being in possession of two AK 47 rifles without a permit.
The charge sheet states that on November 15 this year at Adoket Adome village in Silale location of Tiaty West, Baringo County, at around 4pm, Lonyangapat Perinyang was found in possession of a firearm namely AK 47 serial number 5C2752 without a license or other lawful justification from a licensing officer.
Perinyang was also charged with three other counts of being in possession of a second AK47 gun serial number 3979, ten rounds ammunition of 7.62 by 39 mm calibre in a magazine and five rounds of ammunition respectively.
The accused was escorted to the court under tight security appeared before Principal Magistrate Caroline Ateya on Thursday and charged for being in possession of a firearm without license contrary to section 4A (1) (a) as read with sub section (2) (a) of the firearms Act Cap 114 Laws of Kenya.
He denied the four accusations levelled against him in all the counts when read out to him through an interpreter.
“Your honour, I did not own the said AK 47 rifles and 15 rounds of ammunition. I am being framed on the accusations,” Perinyang defended himself.
The investigating officer Benjamin Simiyu prayed the court not to release the suspect on bond since he is a flight risk and a dangerous person to the community.
“We have been looking for this suspect for the past three years for different offences committed within Tiaty West Sub County,” Simiyu told the court.
Simiyu further stated that there were other accomplices still at large believed to be in possession of more firearms and are lethal to their informers and the investigating team.
He further informed the Magistrate that the suspect has no fixed abode and lacks an identification card to confirm his true identity thus they were in the process of confirming his true identity from the Registrar of Persons office in Nairobi.
The Principal Magistrate in her ruling granted the investigating officer his wish of denying the accused bond terms and ordered him to be remanded in custody as they wait for a pre-bail report.
The case will come up for mention on November 28 where a hearing date will be fixed with two witnesses expected to testify.
By Joan Tarus and Joshua Kibet
