100 years in jail for an Embu man who defiled three minors

A 20-year old man, who confessed to defiling three minors in a church, was Wednesday, September 14 sentenced to 100 years in prison by an Embu Magistrate Court.

Harrison Kinyua, was sentenced to the jail term by Embu Senior Residents Magistrate, Vincent Nyakundi, after the prosecution convinced the court that he had actually defiled the three schoolgirls aged 10 and 13 years.

Kinyua is said to have committed the offence on December 10, 2015 at Kangaru village, Embu County after luring the three girls into a church building.

During the trail that took less than one year, the court heard how, on the material day, Kinyua pursued the three girls as they returned chairs that had been borrowed from the church for a funeral that he locked the gate and the church doors and then ordered them to lie down before defiling them in turns.

In his defence, Kinyua said he had dismissed one of the girls whom he believed to be underage as she did not exhibit bodily signs of puberty such as development of breasts and hips.

He revealed that after the act, he then gave them Ksh 20 each to buy chips that were being sold at a nearby market.

The accused is said to have taken turns to defile the three, only for one of the girls to inform the one that had been dismissed for having no desirable physique (lacking breasts and hips) of what transpired earlier.

This prompted the ‘rejected’ girl to report the incident to her peers after feeling that it was not right to eat the Ksh 20 chips and not receive the same treatment as her three friends. It is at this point that the their parents notified the police leading to the arrest of the culprit, charges leveled against him and criminal proceeding instituted.

Among those who testified included Dr Christine Nyangilo, based at the Embu Level Five Hospital, who told the court that she examined the three girls and confirmed that they had been defiled.

The three girls also took to the witness stand together with Children Officers and their parents thus giving the prosecution case more weight.

Kinyua, in his mitigation, said that the three girls tempted him beyond the level of self control thus leading to defilement, but added that he was remorseful for his actions.

While handing the sentence, Nyakundi said that he was convinced that the minors told the truth.

He further stated that the minors struck him as honest and truthful who would not have been coached in order to adduce such kind of evidence to frame the accused.

The trial magistrate said that after considering the prosecution and the evidence on this case, he found that the prosecution had proven the case to the required standards.

Kinyua, who was facing three separate counts of defilement will serve 30 years for defiling the 13-year-old girl, another 30 years for defiling the 10-year-old girl and an additional 40 years for defiling the other 13-year-old girl.

The sentences will run consecutively. The accused has 14 days to file an appeal.