A Kabarnet court has sentenced a 45- year -old man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of defiling an eight-year-old girl.
Stephen Kemboi, who appeared before Resident Magistrate Edwin Mulochi on Tuesday, is said to have committed the act on January 25 2022 at around 4pm at Tebei village in Baringo South Sub County.
Kemboi had been charged with two counts of defilement contrary to section 8(1) as read with section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006 with an alternative charge of committing an indecent act with a girl contrary to section 11 of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006. He was also accused of threatening to kill the father of the minor using a panga, an offence that he denied.
He told the court that the probation report was biased against him as it stated that the community termed him unfit to get a non-custodial sentence which he had prayed the court to grant him.
The father of the minor who witnessed the culprit committing the heinous act told the court that Kemboi, who is their neighbour, had called the victim ostensibly to give her mangoes.
But alarmed by the delay in her returning back, the father of the minor would go looking for her at the culprit’s home where he found the suspect in a maize store with his daughter lying on the ground. According to the father’s testimony, the culprit strangled him while threatening to slash him with a panga when he questioned him.
During the confrontation, the minor is said to have got an opportunity to escape and ran back home and explained the ordeal to her mother.
The mother stated that the child was referred to Baringo County referral hospital for specialized treatment before reporting the matter to the police.
The doctor who presented a medical report to court confirmed that the girl was indeed defiled and had developed fistula.
Mulochi sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and gave him 14-days right of appeal.
“The law does not allow a non-custodial sentence given the gravity of the offense which involved a vulnerable person and it is not the first time. In addition, according to the probation report the offender takes advantage of weak and vulnerable children and women in the society,” Mulochi ruled.
