A 35-year-old man was on Thursday remanded in custody after he was charged with burning down a food store that belongs to his elder brother after a disagreement over a piece of land.
The court that was presided over by Senior Resident Magistrate Felix Kombo heard that on the night of December 2 at around 12 midnight, the accused, Alex Kiprono gained entry into his elder brother James Kiprono’s home in Kerobon village in Njoro Sub-county, and set on fire a food store, thereby causing damage and destruction of property worth Sh500,000.
According to the prosecution desk, the accused was arrested at a drinking joint in Njoro town following investigations by police, after he had gone missing since the incident occurred.
The prosecution added that the accused had a few days before the incident threatened to ‘discipline’ the complainant, after the two had a quarrel over the distribution of a family piece of land.
The accused is said to have accused his elder brother and his family for having grabbed a piece of land from him, and that the food stuff in the store was ideally his. The court was told that the fire destroyed a store building, twenty sacks of maize, ten sacks of beans, fifteen sacks of potatoes and several bundles of hay.
He was remanded in custody after he failed to raise a bond of Sh150,000.
The case will be heard on January 8 next year.