A Meru court has sentenced a man to 6 years in prison for vandalism and handling of stolen electricity equipment.
The accused, Josphat Mureithi, was arraigned before Tigania Law Courts Senior Resident Magistrate Hon. Ongira.
He had earlier been arrested within Meru County for vandalising and stealing earthing and other electrical equipment.
At the time of his arrest, Mureithi was found with the equipment hidden in his rabbits’ hutch.
In a similar ruling on Monday, a Kisumu Court sentenced a vandal, Polycarp Nyakaye, to 20 years in prison for 12 counts of transformer vandalism, stealing and handling stolen electricity equipment.
Nyakaye is believed to be the mastermind of transformer vandalism within Kisumu County, particularly Ahero, Rabuor, Nyakach and Seme.
He will serve his jail term while attending to a similar vandalism case before a Nyamira court.
Kenya Power’s acting Security Services Manager Stephen Muoka termed the ruling a big boost to the Company’s effort to crack down on vandalism, theft of electricity and other illegal activities within the network.
“We have scaled up surveillance on the network to get rid of any illegal activities that endanger the lives of the public and deny revenue to the Company. We thank the Judiciary for the support they have accorded us, which we are confident will go a long way to deter criminals,” he said.
In addition to regular security operations, the Company is working in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies and the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), to carry out inspection of the network and critical installations to fight vandalism and theft of electricity.
