Nairobi, Nov 8 (IANS): A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced a former football coach to life imprisonment and ordered him to pay almost 90 million shillings (700,000 US dollars) in fines for abusing young boys in his care and possessing child pornography.

The convicted suspect, Peter Mureithi, will spend an additional 110 years in jail if he fails to raise the fine.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said it had successfully tabled evidence in a Kilifi court in coastal Kenya implicating Mureithi in the defilement of young boys.

"Further to the life imprisonment sentence, Mureithi was fined 90 million shillings or, in default, serve an extra 110 years in prison for child pornography, being in possession of videos with obscene images of a minor aged 11 years, trafficking in persons for the purposes of exploiting them sexually contrary to Section 3(1) as read with Section 3(5) of the counter-trafficking persons Act No. 8 of 2010," the DPP said.

Kilifi Principal Magistrate Ivy Wasike sentenced the coach after he was found guilty of abusing the minors who had been under his care as their coach.

The prosecution detailed to the court how the accused, who managed a football team consisting of players under the age of 15, would recruit the minors and offer their families financial support as a way of buying their silence for his actions.

The offences were committed between 2022 and 2033 around the Mwembe Tayari area in the Malindi sub-county in the coastal part of the country.

The suspect has 14 days to appeal against the sentence.