A 17-year-old secondary school student who was found guilty of procuring an abortion has been sentenced to serve three years on probation by a Kericho court.
The minor appeared before Kericho resident magistrate Elizabeth Karani and was charged with concealing birth.
Particulars of the charges stated that on 5th November 2018 at around 6am at Poiywek village within Kericho County, she delivered a baby aged six months and secretly concealed its birth.
The teen, who is a Form Three student at Poiywek Secondary School had earlier undergone a psychiatric examination that certified she was fit to stand trial.
The prosecution told the court that on 2 November this year at around 2pm, the minor went to a chemist located at Ainamoi Trading centre while she was six months pregnant and bought some drugs.
On the material day at around 6 am, the minor took the drugs and all over a sudden, she told a friend that she was in pain as she had taken some medicine.
The girl then rushed to a pit-latrine and where she called out to her friend who on arrival raised the alarm. Her friend rushed to seek for help after she found the baby lying on the floor of the pit latrine.
On coming back in the company of a neighbour,they did not find the baby but the accused told them that she had thrown the infant into the pit latrine.
Both friends rushed the accused to Kericho county referral hospital where they were directed to report the matter to police.
The matter was reported at Nyagacho police station where the minor was summoned to record a statement and thereafter taken to hospital for medical attention.
Police officers visited the scene and managed to recover the dead foetus from the pit latrine.
A post mortem report produced before the court showed that the foetus died as a result of suffocation and spleen injury.
Treatment notes, a prescription form, a bunch of receipts and a copy of the minor’s birth certificate were also presented in the court as exhibits in the case.
In mitigation, the minor told the court that her friends in school had prevailed on her to take the medicine to get rid of her pregnancy and added that she committed the offense out of fear for her parents.
A probation officer’s report indicated that the teen had been guided and counseled on the risks of engaging in casual sex while the parents and area chief pledged to work together to monitor the minor’s behavior.
In her ruling, Magistrate Karani said the court had taken in account the probation report, the minor’s mitigation as well as the circumstances of the case that warranted the minor to be placed on probation.
By Sarah Njagi
