This archive report was first published on 31 August 2021.
On August 31, 2021, the High Court in Mombasa handed down a 30-year jail sentence to a 50-year-old man who had been found guilty of defiling his six-year-old daughter.
The man had initially been sentenced to life imprisonment by a magistrate's court in 2019, but he appealed the decision.
Justice Anne Ong'injo, who presided over the appeal, noted that the man's actions were particularly heinous because he had taken advantage of his daughter's vulnerability and robbed her of her childhood.
“Life imprisonment is the right punishment for such a brutal and heinous act. However, since a life sentence is ambiguous, I will give a definitive time frame for the appellant to serve 30 years’ imprisonment,” she said.
The man had denied the charges, claiming that he had been framed by his neighbors who were jealous of his land in Taveta. However, the court dismissed his claims and found him guilty of incest.
According to court records, the man had sexually abused his daughter on April 26, 2019, and had instructed her to say that she had been attacked by a ghost. His son had testified in court that their father had preyed on their sister at night and had warned them not to tell anyone.
The court also heard that the man had separated from his wife two years prior to the incident and was living with their two children at the time of the abuse.
Prosecutors argued that the man had shown no remorse for his actions and had left his children traumatized and homeless.
