Kericho Senior Resident Magistrate Aziza Ajwang has sentenced a 27-year-old man to sixty years imprisonment after he was found guilty of defiling a six-year-old.
Shedrack Kiprotich Bii defiled the minor in his house on 11th August 2021 at Sigowet Location in Soin/Sigowett Sub-county of Kericho County.
He was also charged with an alternative charge of committing an Indecent Act with the girl, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution produced six witnesses, all of who gave corroborating evidence against the accused.
According to testimony given in court, on August 11, 2021, the minor's mother went to the hospital to give birth, leaving the accused—her neighbour who was hired to perform menial tasks at the family's home—and the house helped to care for the child.
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On August 14, 2021, when she got home, her house help told her that her daughter had been spending some time at the accused person's place.
When questioned, the complainant stated that the accused defiled her, and the incident occurred when the house help went to work on September 12, 2021.
The complainant explained that the accused defiled her, and the incident occurred when the house help was out running errands when a friend of the family who had visited the complainant's home on September 12, 2021, noticed the complainant's unusual demeanour as she kept touching her private parts.
The young girl said, "During the horrifying ordeal, I felt pain prompting me to tell the accused to stop who complied but threatened to kill me if I told anyone." The child told her mother the same story again.
After being examined medically at the Soin/Sigowet Sub-county Hospital, the complainant received treatment there, and the police were informed of the incident.
A P3 form and lab reports were presented to the court, further corroborating the defilement charge, after a clinical officer who examined the girl informed the court that she had been defiled.
“I hereby find that the evidence adduced has confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused committed the act, which caused penetration with the alleged victim who was a child aged six years. I therefore find him guilty and convict him of defilement contrary to section 8(1) as read with section 8 (2) of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006 as charged."
The convict was reminded of the right to appeal the sentence within 14 days if dissatisfied.
