A Chuka High Court last Wednesday upheld the conviction of a middle aged man found guilty of defiling a minor with special needs, after the convict appealed against last June ruling that committed him to a 15 year jail term.
Peter Mutwiri had challenged the findings from a trial court in Marimanti to the effect that he had defiled a 16-year-old class six girl at their home in Kereria village, Tharaka-South Sub County, Tharaka-Nithi County.
The girl was reportedly taking lunch at their home when the accused ambushed her and forcibly committed the act.
During the trial, Justice Robert Limo asserted that after carefully going through proceedings of the trial court, he had established beyond reasonable doubt that the trial was fairly executed.
“I have carefully gone through the proceedings of the trial court, analyzed the witnesses and I find no relationship between what happened and what the appellant alleges,” he said.
The appellant had through his lawyer claimed that the trial court was biased for failing to give the defense team time to finalize their submission before judgement was delivered.
The defense had argued that the testimony from the plaintiff could not stand in a court of law since her mental capacity to offer reliable information was questionable.
The appellant had also raised concern over the failure by the trial court to grant their wish to subject the complainant to a DNA testing to prove if the said offence was actually committed.
However, Justice Limo dismissed their argument insisting that the girl was of sound mind despite the fact that she was just a child with special needs.
He also ruled that a DNA testing was not mandatory in the case after the court proved beyond reasonable doubts that the accused had committed the offense on the 31st March, 2016
By Dominic Ntoogo and David Mutwiri
