A police officer who lend his firearm to robbers has been sentenced to eight years in jail by a Nanyuki court.

Paul Wachira Nderitu, a police driver who was attached to Umande Police station gave out his State-owned gun to Sammy Muringi, a robber who was shot dead in a shoot-out with police on August 22, 2012.

The court heard that on that day at around 7.30 pm, the Officer Commanding Nanyuki Police Station (OCS) Chief Inspector Joash Nyachiro was tipped that there were people planning a robbery at a bar in Nanyuki.

The OCS dispatched police officers and when they arrived, a shootout ensued leading to death of Muringi after a confrontation.

Other suspects managed to escape and after investigations the pistol was found to be from Umande police station and had been assigned to the accused.

The same night, the accused could not be traced until after a week when he presented himself to Nanyuki police station where he was arrested.

After investigations, Nderitu was charged with the offence of disposing his pistol which was used in a criminal activity.

He was also charged with unlawfully giving five rounds of ammunition to the robber who was later killed.

Nderitu was later arraigned in court where he denied the allegations.

In his defence, he told Senior Resident Magistrate Evanson Ngigi that the pistol got lost while he was in his car with some passengers.

However he could not explain why he never reported the disappearance of the pistol and why after the attempted robbery he went underground.

Ngigi handed him eight years in jail for each count, which will run concurrently since they occurred simultaneously.

He was however granted 14 days right of appeal.