A Makueni Law Court has sentenced a 46-year-old man to serve 40 years in prison after he was found guilty of defiling a 12-year-old boy living with disability, contrary to Section 8(3) of Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006.
John Mwania Ndisya appeared before the Makueni Law Court Senior Resident (SR) Magistrate Caroline Kemei on Thursday, where she made her ruling.
The court had been told Ndisya committed the offence on August 16, 2023, at Wathu Village in Makueni Subcounty between 5.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m., when the boy was bathing at the river while grazing his grandparents’s goats.
The accused took the minor, who is physically challenged, to a secluded spot and sexually assaulted him. In the second incident, the man lured the boy with a sugarcane to his house, where he committed the heinous act again and later tried to strangle the boy.
A psychiatrist at Makueni County Referral Hospital, Dr. Teresia Mutavi, told the court that the boy had been violent, set ablaze a mattress, and tried to torch his grandparents’s house.
“The victim seemed to be absent-minded and was gloomy and emotionally disturbed whenever he visited the hospital,” said Dr. Mutavi while giving evidence in court.
“The offender remains a threat to the boy, and as such, withdrawal of the accused from the community will be a paramount protection measure for the victim,” said Emily Njoroge, a probation officer, while giving her report to the court.
In her ruling, Kemei said that the prosecution had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt and that the accused was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
“This court has found out that the accused took advantage of an innocent 12-year-old boy, knowing he is a person with a disability.” In order to deter like-minded people, the offender is sentenced to 40 years in prison,” said Kemei.
The accused has 14 days to appeal the sentence.
By Collins Muuo
