They say the law is an ass but for it must be the pain in the ass for a man and his son who had been intoxicated by it.
Amos Nyamboga and Joseph Nyamboga have cooled their heels behind bars for two years out of four they had been slapped with having been found guilty of unlawfully slashing their neighbor’s cabbages.
They went to court, obtained orders barring a man who had sub leased their land and descended on cabbages which had been planted.
Little did they know that their actions would force them to save their souls from languishing in jail if they paid Sh 100,000 each.
After sentencing in 2017, they appealed the magistrate’s court decision before the High Court.
High Court judge Esther Maina reduced the sentence from four years to 12 months in jail if they fail to pay Sh 50, 000 fine.
The tiff behind the two men and the complainant, on George Morara was on land ownership. They had leased the land to another man who sublet Morara for planting his crops.
Two months to maturity, Nyamboga and his son descended on the cabbages as slashed each of them.
They justified their action with an order they had obtained from the court but their idea to pass anger on the crops boomeranged to haunt them.
“The law would have required them to give the complainant notice to remove his crop. They did not do so but instead descended on his land while he was away and destroyed a big portion of his crop. It is my finding that their conduct was unlawful and that they were properly convicted. The appeal on conviction has no merit,” ruled Justice Maina
Justice Maina observed that same way the two had gone to court to obtain orders against the and tenant is the same means they should have used to obtain orders to remove the complainant and his crops from the land.
“I do not agree that this is a land dispute. It is a criminal act to destroy one’s property as the appellants did. If they had an order from a court of law, then they should have used the procedure laid down by that court to execute that order.”
“The manner in which the cabbages were cut was malicious and was not a mere removal of unwanted plants from one’s farm. If there was no malice the appellants would have waited for the crop to mature,” the judge added.
The punishment for a sentence of five-years imprisonment without the option of a fine but the court opted to impose a lesser sentence and with an alternate option of a fine.
