/ 31 August 2001

KENYAN MOM (93) JAILED FOR CUTTING SON’S FRUIT

A 93-YEAR-old Kenyan woman has been sentenced to four months in jail for cutting down her son’s banana plants. Esther Nyambura Kaburu burst into tears as she was led out of the court in the central town of Nyeri to serve her sentence, imposed after she failed to pay a 5 000 Kenya shilling ($60) fine, the East African Standard Newspaper reported. The newspaper said Kaburu admitted to slashing 12 banana stems belonging to her son and daughter-in-law, with whom she had been embroiled in a land feud. Last year a 70-year-old woman was jailed in Nyeri after being convicted of trying to bribe a magistrate with a packet of tea. -Reuters