A former principal at Habaswein Mixed Secondary School, Abdi Haret, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a ruling made by Resident Magistrate, Mugendi Nyaga after he was found guilty of defiling a KCSE candidate on November 3, 2018, in Wajir County.
In a report published by the Daily Nation, Abdi was reported to have defiled the candidate after offering her a lift on her way to visit her mother.
According to the victim's testimony, she fell unconscious and woke up two hours later to find herself dumped in a borehole not too far from the town area.
She was then admitted to Habaswein District Hospital as was stated by sub-county commissioner Abdihakim Jubat.
Wajir County Police Commander, Stephen Ng'etich said the suspect was arrested on November 4, 2018, and arraigned in court before Senior Resident Magistrate Amos Makoros, after the hospital medical reports confirmed penetration.
However, Abdi Haret denied the charges and was released on a 300,000 shilling bond in November 2018.
The incident occurred just two days before the student could sit for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) that commended on Monday, November 5, 2018.
The conviction sheds light on the enduring teenage pregnancy menace in the country with Kitui and Bomet counties recording the highest number of KCSE candidates doing examinations while expectant for the year 2018 and 2019 respectively.
''We cannot tolerate situations where young girls are sexually exploited. We must give our children quality time to gain knowledge,” Bomet County commissioner, Geoffrey Omondi is quoted on The Standard on November 2, 2019.
In 2018, All Africa reported, that over 41 students had given birth and an additional 72 girls were expectant during their KCSE examinations in Kitui County.
Kitui County Education Officer Salesa Adano said, ''No parent has raised a red flag. No parent has said, look, something is happening with my daughter. Not a single chief has raised, not a single community member... but it is us as a department are saying that something is very seriously wrong.''
