An Embu ACK priest who defiled his underage niece before residents torched his house in April was on Monday jailed for life.
Reverend Elijah Gichangi, 38, was sent to jail by Principal Magistrate Samuel Mutai after the prosecution proved he committed the offense.
The priest was charged that on or before April 19 he willfully and intentionally defiled the seven-year-old at Spring Valley estate in Embu town.
He was also charged that on the same day, he unlawfully and intentionally touched the complainant's genitals.
The prosecution lined up 6 witnesses who testified against him in the defilement charge.
The witnesses, who included the girl, Gichangi's mother-in-law, and doctors, moved the court with their testimonies of the horrifying event.
The girl told the court that she and other children were playing outside when the clergy beckoned at her to enter the house.
She said since the pastor was her uncle, she thought he wanted to send her somewhere hence obliged.
"Instead he threw me into the sofa set where he defiled me," the girl said.
The girl, who stayed with her grandparents, said the uncle waited until her aunt and cousin who were at the house left.
"He undressed me and did a bad thing before threatening me with dire consequences if I told anybody," the girl said.
In his defense, the pastor produced four witnesses - including his wife of ten years, a businessman and church colleague, who defended him.
In his mitigation, he sought for leniency that he was the sole breadwinner of his family and also took care of the girl.
But the Magistrate said that the offense was heinous and that the pastor ought to be given a deterrent sentence to him and others.
He was given 14 days to appeal against the sentence.