A Kajiado court has sentenced a middle-aged man to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of defiling an 11-year-old boy.
The ruling was delivered on January 5 by Principal Magistrate Hon. V. Kachuodho, who found that the accused committed the offence in 2022 after luring the minor to his home under false pretences.
When delivering the ruling, the magistrate described the crime as grave and deserving of the maximum punishment provided by law.
According to the account from the child, the defender isolated, threatened, and subjected the minor to sexual abuse.
The prosecution, which was led by Linda Nzioka, called five witnesses whose testimonies the court found to be consistent and credible.
The evidence proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt, leading to a conviction that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) described as a significant step in safeguarding children and holding perpetrators of sexual violence accountable.
The conviction and sentence were anchored in the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006, the law used to prosecute defilement cases in Kenya.
Under Section 8 of the Act, any act involving penetration with a person under the age of 18 constituted defilement.
The statute set compulsory minimum penalties pegged on the victim’s age, stipulating a life sentence in cases involving children aged 11 and below.
Other provisions under the Act included Section 9, which covered attempted defilement, and Section 11, which addressed indecent acts with a child where penetration was not proven.
Courts were also guided by complementary laws in handling such cases. Section 124 of the Evidence Act allowed a conviction to be secured on the sole testimony of a child victim if the court was satisfied that the testimony was truthful and recorded its reasons, even in the absence of medical corroboration.
The Children Act of 2021 defined a child as any person under 18 and outlined child-friendly procedures during trial.
