A middle aged man was on Monday released arraigned in a Thika Law Court for charges of burning charcoal without permission.
Kelvin Thiong’o, 32 appeared before Thika Resident Magistrate Martha Mutuku for what the prosecution desk said is contrary to the Kenya forests act of 2010.
The Court heard that on March 12 this year the accused was found, in company of others who were not before the Court, in Gatundu forest burning charcoal. The rest of the suspects ran away on noticing the Kenya Forest Service personnel.
The Court also heard that the accused person dropped his documents while on the run and thus gave the police a simple task to trace and arrest him.
In his defence the accused person said that he lost the documents the previous week only to be found by the police who informed him that he was under arrest for burning of charcoal.
He said he is a teacher by profession and he has no reason to burn charcoal since he is employed and gets a salary in a local primary, therefore had no reason to burn charcoal.
The accused denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh50,000 and a surety bond of Sh100,000. The case will be heard on April 2 2015.