A barber found guilty of rape suffered a double tragedy after his appeal against a 15-year jail term was set aside and sentenced to life by a Nairobi court. Raymond Waweru Mwangi was charged with defiling a five-year-old girl and indecent assault. In the, Waweru claimed that the evidence used to convict him was not corroborated and the case was not investigated. He also claimed that his defencee was not considered during the hearing.
Waweru said the complainant was examined five days after the alleged incident. He added that he was taken to court after being in custody for five days instead of 24 hours. High Court’s Justice Mbogholi Msagha ruled that there is no reason why the child would implicate Waweru with such a serious offence. “In my assessment, the offence was proved beyond any reasonable doubt. The conviction was well founded,” he ruled.
Justice Mbogholi said, however, that the law is clear that section 8 (2) of the sexual offences act provides that a person who commits an offence of defilement with a child aged 11 years or less shall on conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life. “It is mandatory that this is the sentence the trial magistrate should have imposed on convicting appellant,” said the judge.
Waweru had appealed against conviction and sentence. The trial magistrate had ruled that the law is trite and there is no need for corroboration in a matter of such nature. The trial magistrate found that the accused’s defence that he never left his place of work was exaggerated and made up.
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