The suspect says he has been selling car meat since 2012/CFM NEWS
NAKURU, Kenya, Jun 25 – A man who admitted selling cat meat to samosa vendors within Nakuru Town has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Principal Magistrate Bernard Mararo sentenced James Kimani after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
“The accused is sentenced by his own plea. He is to serve two years on the first count with a Sh200,000 fine and on the second count a fine of Sh50,000 or an imprisonment of one year,” ruled Mararo.
In the first count, he was accused of willingly slaughtering a cat for the purpose of human consumption in Nakuru Town.
In the second count, he was charged with slaughtering the animal in an undesignated open place contrary to section 2 of the Meat Control Act.
In admitting the offence, Kimani pleaded for leniency claiming that he had been offered a job to deliver the cat meat at a higher price.
“I was not aware it was wrong to slaughter the cats in an open ground,” he said adding that he could have done his business in the forest.
Kimani, who was forced to carry the dead cat to court, was saved by the police from a mob on Sunday that wanted to lynch him when they found him skinning the animal, before he confessed to have skinned and sold over 1,000 cats.
He said he had sold over 1,000 cats to samosa vendors and a hotel in Nakuru since 2012.
According to the Meat Control Act, it is dangerous to eat uninspected meat and meat from animals not prescribed to be food animals.
About The Author
