Kenyan court jails ex-leader of killer sect

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

NAIROBI (AFP) — A Kenyan court on Thursday jailed the former leader of a banned sect blamed for a string of beheadings and murders in recent months, judicial sources said.

Amid a nationwide crackdown on the Mungiki gang in which thousands were detained, Nairobi principal magistrate Rosemary Mutoka slapped a five years prison sentence on Maina Njenga for illegal possession of arms.

"I find that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt to sustain a conviction. The offence of being in possession of a firearm without a licence is serious," Mutoka said.

Njenga, who was arrested in February 2006, was also handed a two-year term for possessing cannabis, but both sentences will run concurrently.

After his remand, Njenga relinquished the...