A student from Royal Vision High School in Narok County is sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations in custody after he was arraigned in court charged with rape.
The accused, Gideon Cheruiyot Chepkwony, 19, was on Tuesday arraigned before the Narok Chief Magistrate (CM), Wilbroda Juma charged with raping a young girl on October 14, this year at around 4:00am in Narok town.
He also faced an alternative charge of indecently assaulting the minor by touching her private parts.
Ms. Juma ordered that the education office be served with proceedings so that they may put in place all logistics for invigilation of the accused’s exams and the Officer Commanding Narok Police Station (OCS) to provide security for the exams that the accused would be sitting for while in remand at Narok GK Prisons.
She further ordered that the prison authorities provide security and escort for the accused to school on the days of practical exams so that the accused could sit for them as per the examination timetable.
The accused had previously appeared before Resident Magistrate, Adeline Sisenda on October 18 this year to answer the charges where he had pleaded not guilty and told the court that he was a student awaiting to sit for his KCSE examinations and was awarded a bond of Sh.200, 000 with a surety of a similar amount but he could not raise the surety amount.
The prosecution had opposed the release of the accused on bond alleging that the accused`s mother was interfering with witnesses as she had tried to bribe the complainant with Sh.20, 000 so that she could withdraw the case.
The prosecution opposed his release on bond, saying that was an act of interference with the prosecution witness and therefore the mother of the accused could not be trusted to avail the accused in court if he was released on bond.
The case will now be mentioned on November 13 and heard on November 21. The court ordered that the accused be supplied with witness statements before the hearing date to prepare for his trial.
By Mabel Keya-Shikuku/Kevin Bogita
