Three men were on Monday arraigned before a Kisumu Law courts for engaging in illegal logging at a reserved facility.
The three, Harrison Oketch, Paul Okinyi and Moses Rioba denied the charges before Kisumu Chief Magistrate, Lucy Gitari for the offence they allegedly committed on July 11 in Kisumu’s Jomo Kenyatta grounds.
According to the prosecutor Joseph Ngetich, Oketch and Okinyi were found cutting down a tree at the Jomo Kenyatta grounds while Rioba was in charge of transporting the cut logs on a motorbike.
On the said date council police notified the administration police who went to the scene and managed to arrest the first and the second accused as Rioba managed to get away.
Upon interrogations Okinyi and Oketch revealed the whereabouts of Rioba who was later arrested in Kondele on July 15.
The three accused person had been previously arrested for the same offence at the former Oile market in Kisumu.
The trees are believed to be split and sold as firewood to local merchants. The three residents of Manyatta in Kisumu were released on a cash bail of Sh 10, 000 each with same surety .The case will resume on August 14 for a hearing.