A middle aged man was on Tuesday acquitted by a Murang’a court after being falsely accused of defiling his underage daughter.
Senior Resident Magistrate Eric Analo ruled that Samuel Kibugi was innocent, stating that the accusations made by his daughter were out of spite.
Based on witnesses and evidence brought before the court, it was established that the girl, 14, fabricated the claims because she did not want to go to school and had been disciplined by the father for skipping classes.
“The victim is quite stubborn and did not want to go to school. Further, she did not indicate the time and the place the accused sexually assaulted her,” said the Magistrate as he read the ruling.
According to the alleged victim, her father sexually assaulted her at diverse dates between the month of May and June of this year but could not clearly tell the court how the incident happened when testifying.
Her mother, Rachel Wanjiku, who had sent her to school close to where the father lives in Murang’a, said that the ‘victim’ has a habit of being mischievous, and would do anything to avoid attending school.
In her testimony, she disclosed that the school principal had rang her several times to report her daughter’s absenteeism, and her falsely accusing the father was a way of trying to avoid attending school without being questioned.
In his defense, Kibugi said that he has been questioning her daughter for her abrasive behaviour.
Before his arrest, Kibugi had told the court that he had disciplined her for missing school and she did not take it lightly.
She then went to report him to the village elder who took her to the area chief before his arrest. Before his acquittal, Kibugi had served five months in remand.
By Bernard Munyao
