Man gets life sentence for defiling five-year-old girl
A farmhand who defiled a five-year-old girl in Meru has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mau Senior Resident Magistrate Millicent Nyigei ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that David Mwenda, 30, lured the minor while she was playing with her friends in Igembe South and defiled her.
During the hearing that lasted nine months, the prosecution called five witnesses, two of them minors, who positively identified the suspect because he was known to them.
The victim told the court that the man approached and requested her to bring him water to drink.
He then lured the girl to a house that was under construction where he undressed and sexually assaulting her.
She screamed in pain and the man covered her mouth with a jacket. |But luckily, one attentive boy heard her distress call and went to investigate.
He tiptoed to the incomplete house and found the man defiling the girl and called other children. The children managed to chase away the offender who was well known in the village.
The girl’s mother recounted how she was called at around 3pm and informed that her daughter had been defiled by a man known to her, and that neighbours had rushed her to hospital.
A clinical officer at Maua Sub-County Hospital, who attended to the girl, confirmed that she had been defiled.
During the hearing, Mwenda insisted that he was innocent and that he had been framed but State Counsel Kelvin Maina urged the court to ignore the claims and mete severe sentence.
“I pray for leniency, I am usually a good person. I have never been arrested before and pray for court’s mercy,” Mwenda said.
While making the ruling, the magistrate noted that the girl together with other witnesses identified the man and wondered what would motivate her to frame him.
“The accused says that he did not defile the child and that he was framed. He has not said why he would be framed by a child.
“The victim was a very young child who will be affected by the crime committed against her. I shall therefore sentence the accused person to life imprisonment as is provided by the law,” said Ms Nyigei.
The convict was given 14 days to appeal the sentence.
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