A court in Mombasa has overturned a decision to jail a businessman for 20 years.
Suspected ivory dealer Feisal Mohammed was on Friday set free by the Mombasa Court.
In the initial ruling, the controversial businessman was also slapped with a Kshs20 Million fine for being in possession of the ivory merchandise.
[caption caption="Businessman Faisal Mohammed with his lawyers(PHOTO/COURTESY)"]
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Mohammed is now a free man after he successfully contested the sentencing before Judge Dora Chepkwony.
Justice Chepkwony reached a decision that quashed the 20-year jail sentence, terming it unconstitutional.
In the ruling letting Mohammed off the hook, the judge noted that the businessman had already spent time behind bars given the duration the courts took in handling the case.
The judge stated that after interrogating the evidence adduced before the court, she found many gaps.
Chepkwony ruled that the evidence was circumstantial.
In 2016, Mohammed was alongside five others charged after they were found in possession of ivory worth Kshs44 Million.
His other accomplices were all acquitted by the court.
Mohammed was arrested by Interpol sleuths in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in December 2014.
The voided sentence was delivered by Mombasa principal magistrate Diana Mochahe.
Mochache had found the businessman guilty of the offense after interrogating evidence that had been availed before the court at the time.
In her judgment, Mochache stated that Mohammed had to serve as an example for those behind the poaching menace in the country.
[caption caption="Businessman Faisal Mohammed with his lawyers(PHOTO/COURTESY)"]
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