This archive report was first published on 8 January 2020.
On January 8, 2020, a 16-year-old girl's mother was detained at the Industrial Area police station in Nairobi, alongside her lover, for allegedly pimping her underage daughter to him.
The mother's lover, Joseph Mutinda, was also arrested and held for allegedly defiling the girl.
According to police constable Rita Mbui, the two were arrested by Nyumba Kumi officials and handed to the police on suspicion that the woman had married off her daughter to her lover, having failed to take her to school.
‘The second respondent is the mother of the complainant. After failing to take care of her daughter, she subjected her to early marriage,’ Mbui stated in an application she filed in court seeking orders to hold the two for 14 days.
However, Mutinda denied the allegations, claiming it was a misunderstanding between him and his neighbours.
He said he had cohabited with the girl's mother for two years and they should be presumed married, and therefore, he could not have defiled her daughter.
The case was mentioned in court, with Makadara chief magistrate Heston Nyaga remanding the two at the station until the police find the minor to tell the court her story.
