This archive report was first published on 23 November 2019.
On November 23, 2019, a court in Makueni handed down a 12-year prison sentence to clinical officer Samuel Kimotho for defiling a 14-year-old girl in Kathonzweni subcounty.
Kimotho, 36, was found guilty of defiling the minor in his house at Kathonzweni market on February 27, 2019, by Senior Principal Magistrate James Mwaniki.
According to the prosecution, Kimotho lured the girl to his house after she visited Kathonzweni sub-county hospital, where he was working, to have a P3 form filled following a previous defilement incident.
The prosecution told the court that the minor had visited the hospital on February 25, accompanied by her aunt, but Kimotho asked them to return two days later.
On February 27, the minor returned to the health facility unaccompanied and Kimotho persuaded her to go to his house, where he defiled her.
Kimotho ordered the minor to take a bath in his house in an attempt to conceal the evidence.
He was arrested after neighbours tipped off the police that they had seen the minor entering his house.
In mitigation, Kimotho pleaded for leniency, saying he was the breadwinner of his family and that he regretted his actions.
"I plead for mercy from the court. I am a father of a four-year-old child and I regret the incident," pleaded the clinical officer.
While handing down the sentence, SPM Mwaniki noted that the evidence adduced before the court showed that the minor was a victim of sexual predators due to previous sexual encounters.
