The decision by the Kenya Wildlife Service rangers to shoot a form four student at the Tsavo National Park four years ago was justified according to the ruling delivered by Makindu Law Courts on Thursday.
Benedict Kyule (deceased) was 17 years old at the time the incident occurred and was a student at Kiuani Secondary School in Kibwezi, Makueni County.
The inquest by the Makindu Senior Principal Magistrate, Benson Nyaga Ireri found no evidence to prosecute the three KWS officers involved in the 2019 incident.
After four years of investigations, Kyule's file has been finally closed on a ruling that the officers acted legally in killing the boy.
The three KWS officers based at Mtito-Andei who were on duty when the young man was gunned down are now set free
The fatal killing which turned out to have happened under unclear circumstances happened at Komboyoo area and had 11 witnesses to testify in a public inquest.
The witnesses included the deceased’s father, Kioko Muli, and three officers, Ibrahim Godana, George Otieno and another officer only identified as Kitheka.
Magistrate Ireri, while delivering the judgment, stated that the deceased was actually inside the park, accompanied by other unknown poachers who might have escaped during the shoot-out.
The inquest report states that at the scene of the crime, there were four spent cartridges from a 303 rifle, a homemade gun allegedly under use by the poachers but there was no direct link of the gun under question to have been used by the deceased student.
“It was during their patrol within Komboyoo section, Tsavo West where the officers were forced to take cover at the place where the animals frequently take water after they encountered gunshots fired at around 3:00 am for their own safety and wild animals," said the Magistrate.
A statement from the court, while considering the circumstances in which the shooting occurred, stated that it didn’t find any unlawfulness or excessive use of firearms.
“My findings are that I didn’t find any omissions or unlawfulness in the use of excessive force by the three KWS officers. It's unfortunate that the deceased caused his own misfortune and unfortunate demise inside Tsavo National Park at the wee hours of the morning,” he ruled
The court questioned what was the student doing inside the park at such wee hours of the morning.
“In another statement from the side of the local Chief, he revealed to the court that the boy was a frequent visitor to the park and he would often hunt dik-diks," the court said.
"The court finds that in the shooting that happened at night, the rangers were shot in the dark, what were they supposed to do? Therefore, in my consideration, the three rangers acted lawfully to safeguard their lives and the wildlife. They didn’t deliberately or intentionally cause the death and I direct this file be closed for further action,” the court ruled.
However, shortly after the court session, the deceased’s father, Muli, expressed dissatisfaction with the court ruling saying that the court failed to disclose whether the boy had a gun.
“My son was a firm believer who never missed a church event. He was more into education. If he had no knowledge of using local bows and arrows how could he use a gun which is technical ?” Muli questioned.
Mutinda Kimeu, lawyer to the family, said they were dissatisfied with the ruling and they will appeal the decision immediately.
“The three officers acknowledged to have killed the boy. There was no connection between the gun recovered and the deceased. Justice has not been served. We will appeal in the high court,” said Kimeu
Also, the grey areas spotted in the case identified were the dates the boy was killed.
A postmortem report from Makindu Level 4 Hospital stated that the boy died as a result of excessive bleeding linked to gunshot wounds on the chest that went through the lungs.