A court in Eldoret has sentenced a 33-year-old man to 40 years in jail after he was found guilty of incest.
The accused, a 33-year-old, had been charged with defiling her blood daughter, a crime he committed about two years ago.
Court documents indicate that man committed the crime on diverse dates in March 2020 at Huruma estate on the outskirt of Eldoret town.
He was drunk when he committed the crime contrary to section 20 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act.
During the hearing of the case, the victim, a 13-year-old girl, narrated to the court how her father defiled her at night.
“My dad took advantage of my vulnerability by stripping me naked and then sexually abused me at night under the influence of alcohol in our mud-walled house,” the minor emotionally recounted.
The prosecution had told the court that the accused was not fit to live with not only any other children but also his own.
It asked for a stringent sentence to serve as a lesson to others involved in incest and defilement.
Shocked court
But when given an opportunity to defend himself, the accused pleaded with the court to give him a lenient sentence.
He said he needed to serve a shorter jail term so that he comes out when still strong to fend for his family, a request that left the packed court astonished.
“I plead that you give me a shorter jail term so that I come out of prison while still strong enough to fend for my young family,” the accused told the court.
In his ruling, presiding Eldoret senior resident magistrate Barnabas Kiptoo sentenced the 33-year-old to 40 years in jail.
This is even as he regretted that the accused took advantage of his daughter’s vulnerability to molest her sexually under the watch of the accused person’s mother.
He described the mother as evil.
“It baffles me that the police officers based at Baharini police station along the Eldoret-Webuye highway led by the Officer Commanding Station ( OCS ) set the victim’s grandmother free,” the Magistrate said.
He further ordered the OCS to arrest the grandmother who was adversely mentioned in the matter for investigations and ensure the file is available to the Director of Public Prosecution within 45 days from the date of the judgment.
