PROCEEDINGS
#22. January 20th, 2025 (Hearing): Unknown proceedings, did not attend. Next hearing date set for March 13, 2025.
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#21. November 25th, 2024 (Mention): With all relevant persons present, the court set the next hearing date for January 20th, 2025.
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#20. November 7th, 2024 (Hearing): The scheduled hearing did not take place. One witness, Samwel Muisyo Mutune, was present. Defence counsel, Mr. Ngolanya, raised concern for further actions to be taken since the first witness wasn’t truthful. The magistrate said she will give directions to the matter by way of mention on November 25th.
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#19. August 15th, 2024 (Hearing):The hearing of case number E049/23, which was scheduled to take place today at Machakos Law Courts, was postponed as a result of the promotion of the presiding magistrate, Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi, to that of High Court Judge.
The court administration has confirmed that a replacement for Hon. Andayi will be arriving in November. As a result, all cases under his docket, including case number E049/23, have been given new dates.
The hearing for case E049/23 has now been rescheduled to the 7th of November, 2024. Parties involved are expected to appear in court on the new date, where the case will proceed under the new magistrate.
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#18. May 9th, 2024 (Hearing):The scheduled hearing did not take place. It was announced that the presiding magistrate was on leave. (He may have been at the ‘Heads of Station’ conference in Kisii). As the court was not sitting, matters were dealt with in court 2. The next court date assigned is August 15th, 2024. The accused person was present and one witness.
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#17. March 7th, 2024 (Mention): The accused, Mativo, was today in court with defence counsel, Mr. Ngolanya. The accused was asked why he was not in court on the last date and he stated that he believed that the hearing would not begin until 11:00 am. The court hence gave a hearing date of May 9th and summons will be issued for required witnesses.
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#16. February 26th, 2024 (Hearing): The scheduled hearing did not take place. The accused, Lazarus Kinyumu Mativo failed to appear in court. The prosecution was ready to proceed and had four witnesses present. A warrant of arrest was issued by Chief Magistrate W.F. Andayi and there will be a mention date for March 7th for directions.
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#15. November 6th, 2023 (Mention): The transfer of magistrates has meant that nothing of a constructive nature has happened since the first witness testified on August 7th. There have been three sittings since that date, today being the fourth.
Today before presiding Chief Magistrate Andayi, the accused person and counsel were present as well as the court one prosecutor who is new to this case. She requested that as only one witness had testified to date, could the trial start afresh? She also asked to be given time to get full information on the matter. The accused was initially also in agreement with starting from the beginning but changed his mind on the advice of counsel.
CM Andayi denied the prosecution’s request stating that the file contained detailed information of the matter. The next hearing date is four months away on February 26th. That should be enough time for the prosecutor to get up to speed.
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#14. October 19th, 2023 (Mention): Today’s court was not sitting for reasons unknown. The accused was present but unrepresented. Adjourned to November 6th for mention.
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#13. October 3rd, 2023 (Mention): This case has now been moved to Court 1 after the transfer of Chief Magistrate Nyaberi. It is now before Chief Magistrate W.F. Andayi. Today the mention did not happen as there was no prosecutor.
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#12. September 25th, 2023 (Hearing): The hearing did not take place as the prosecutor was absent (no mention why) for reasons unknown. The accused Mativo was present in court. Three KWS witnesses were present to testify. The matter was adjourned to court 1 for mention as the Hon. Nyaberi is being transferred.
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#11. August 7th, 2023 (Hearing): Bashir Kasim, originally accused #3, today gave evidence as the first prosecution witness. It had been previously agreed that for the charges against him to be withdrawn, he would give testimony favourable to the prosecution and against the now lone accused, Lazurus Mativo.
His testimony was contradictory and inconsistent. He said that the written statement he gave to the police (not cautioned) was not what he said. To perhaps corroborate that, Kasim does not understand English and the statement was written in English.
The actual facts that can be gained from today are as follows: On the evening of May 7th, a Honda vehicle was travelling from Salama in the direction of Nairobi (JKIA). This vehicle was stopped at a police roadblock at around 18:30. At the time, Samuel Mutune was the driver. An unknown male was sitting in the front passenger seat and Bashir Kasim was sitting in the rear seat with 3 bags beside him.
When stopped by the police, the occupants were ordered to lay on the ground which Mutune and Kasim did. The other male bolted. Police did not give chase. The 3 bags found in the back seat beside Kasim were found to contain 81 kg of worked ivory, cut into disc shapes and painted black. (see below). The police took the two accused away and later arrested Lazurus Kinyumu Mativo.
Kasim, in fact, gave more damning evidence against the driver of the vehicle, Samuel Mutune. The charges against Mutune have also been withdrawn.
Kasim had been in custody until today. He did admit to the court that he was Tanzanian but working in Kenya at a local slaughterhouse without a permit.
(Ivory cut and painted in this manner is typically seen in shipments sent by air, either by passenger or air freight. The last seizure made in Kenya with ivory cut and painted in a similar manner was in January 2015 and was connected to the West African organized crime group (OCG). The most recent seizure of black painted ivory was in September 2020 when two Congolese from DRC air freighted ivory from Kinshasa to Seattle, Washington.)
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#10. August 2nd, 2023 (Hearing): Today’s hearing did not take place. Lazurus Mativo, now the only accused, has hired a new advocate. The prosecution argued against the adjournment but was overruled. On Monday, the hearing will begin with the first prosecution witness, Bashir Kasim, who had originally been arrested. As Kasim is a Tanzanian national, and despite the fact that the charges against him have been withdrawn, he is being kept in custody until he testifies on Monday.
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#9. August 1st, 2023 (Hearing): The scheduled hearing did not take place. The prosecution withdrew charges against the 2nd and 3rd accused (Mutune and Kasim) with the idea that they will testify against the 1st accused. The charge has been amended to reflect the change with Lazarus Kinyumu Mativo now charged with possession and dealing in wildlife trophies.
The prosecution wished to continue with the hearing today but the advocate for A#1, said he needed time to prepare. Despite the prosecutions refusal, the court has adjourned the matter to tomorrow, August 2nd, for hearing.
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#8. July 31st, 2023 (Mention):
#7. July 25th, 2023 (Mention):
#6. July 24th, 2023 (Mention):
#5. July 11th, 2023 (Mention):
#4. July 3rd, 2023 (Mention): It was said that the court 8 prosecutor was absent so proceedings did not begin until almost noon when a prosecutor from another court sat in. A#3, Bashir, was brought into court today. He is still in custody. Lawyers for the 1st and 2nd accused still claim they haven’t been issued with all the necessary statements. They were given one week to get everything in order. So there will be another mention on July 11th. A hearing date was suggested for August 1st but that will be confirmed on the 11th.
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#3. June 15th, 2023 (Mention): The two accused were in court with their lawyers. The 3rd accused, Bashir, who is in custody, appeared virtually. They were informed of the next mention of July 3rd. This matter is now in front of Hon. Nyaberi.
The accused still haven’t been issued with necessary documents and witness statements. The Magistrate was not happy with the delay and asked them to fast track that process. They claim the transition from the initial magistrate has slowed down the process of obtaining all the documents they need as they are not sure who has what.
Bashir will appear in person for the next mention. The Hon Nyaberi wants the hearing to start ASAP. Next date July 3rd.
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#2. May 22nd, 2023 (Mention): The scheduled trial court was not sitting. The two Kenyan accused, Lazarus Kinyumu Mativo and Samwel Muisyo Mutune, were both in court and represented by counsel. The third accused, Kasim, was not present, believed to be appearing from prison virtually. That, however , did not happen.
A new mention date was taken in the belief that the replacement magistrate will be in attendance to continue with proceedings. Adjourned to June 15th, 2023.
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#1. May 9th, 2023 (Plea): Did not attend – The three accused are arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
