• Minor and her brother testified saying man would come to the girl's room at night when their father left.
• Medical records confirmed she had been defiled.
A man who drilled a hole into his neighbour’s house and defiled a 10-year-old girl will continue to serve his 30-year jail term after he lost the appeal.
Jackson Mutembei was sentenced in 2018 after the court found him guilty of committing the offence in Meru. He appealed the decision.
Justice David Majanja, however, ruled that from the evidence analysed, he was satisfied that the prosecution proved every element of the offence. He affirmed the conviction.
“From the record, the accused repeatedly defiled the complainant. In the circumstances, I find the accused deserves a deterrent sentence. The court is alive to the emerging jurisprudence in respect of mandatory sentences,” the judgement reads.
Majanja noted that he could not say the trial magistrate erred in imposing the sentence, given the age of the child and the fact that Mutembei had subjected her to acts of defilement previously.
The complainant, who was in Standard 5 at the time of the offence, told the court that she knew Mutembei as he was from the area and used to come to their home.
She told the court that he had sexually assaulted her on four separate occasions. The complainant explained that he had drilled a hole in the wall through which he would gain entry into the room where she slept.
She recalled that on November 26, 2018, Mutembei came and sexually assaulted her. She fled home and went to inform her neighbour of her ordeal.
The complainant’s brother testified that he knew Mutembei. He explained that the accused used to come at night while their father was away and sleep in his sister’s room “on top of her”. He told the court that he did not tell anyone because he feared a beating.
According to the neighbour, the girl went to her on December 1, 2018, and told her that Mutembei had sexually assaulted her.
The neighbour knew Mutembei as she used to see him in the village.
She reported the incident to the chief and the matter was reported to the police station.
Medical records presented in court showed that the minor had been defiled.
Mutembei denied the offence and said that he was arrested on suspicion of defiling the child while going about his business at his farm.
He stated that the complainant’s home was about 500 metres away. He said that he was framed by the neighbours.
Edited by R.Wamochie