A teacher at a private school in Nairobi has been jailed for life after he allegedly lured a ten-year-old girl to his house before defiling her.
James Mawanda was handed the punitive sentence on Wednesday by Kibera chief magistrate Ann Mwangi after the prosecution proved the case against him.
“The prosecution proved the offense of defilement beyond any reasonable doubt and at the same time I have considered the accused person’s mitigation and I, therefore, sentence him to a life imprisonment term,” Mwangi said.
The prosecution told the court that the accused person committed the offense on diverse dates between August 2018 and 2019 in Kibera, Katwekere area within Nairobi county.
The court heard that Mawanda was in the habit of luring the girl to his house to conduct ‘tests’ on her.
Court prosecutor Jeff Musyoka called several witnesses who testified in the case before the court pronounced itself.
Musyoka asked the court to hand the accused person tough punishment to serve as a deterrent to other people who may think of committing such offenses.
The accused person had been charged with the second count of committing an indecent act with a minor and other several counts of attempting to defile other minors.
The court, however, dropped the counts of attempted defilement.
The magistrate said that from the minor’s testimony and that of other key witnesses who testified in court, it was obvious that the accused person committed the offense.
While passing the sentence, the magistrate said that the offense was barbaric considering that the victim was a minor.
“The victim positively identified the suspect, she was only 10 years of age. The medical report provided in court proved that the girl was defiled,” she said.
While giving her testimony, the girl told the court that the accused person used tricks to invite her to his house for a test but he never disclosed the kind of test he was going to conduct.
“Aliniuliza kaa nimejaribiwa na akaniambia kama bado nikuje kwake siku hiyo ingine, sikujua alitaka kunifanya tabia mbaya,” she told the court.
Put into context, this translates to, “He asked if I had ever engaged in sexual relations and if not, I should visit him but I didn’t know he wanted to defile me.”
The minor said that the accused person would on several occasions give her Sh100, but on the day he defiled her, he gave her Sh200.
She said the accused person undressed her and defiled her while covering her mouth with a cloth to prevent her from screaming.
“I felt a lot of pain and he told me not to inform anyone including my mother, we used to know him as a teacher,” she told court.
Despite the warning from the culprit, the minor said she revealed what had happened to her mother and the accused person was arrested and charged.
Mawanda denied committing the offence but admitted that the minor would occasionally come to his house in the company of others to watch cartoons.
“They used to come to my house to watch cartoons and because some of them used to damage my items, one day I told them that they will only be allowed in my house in my presence,” he said in mitigation.
Mawanda told the court that he is HIV positive and was a teacher at a private school.
The court, however, dismissed his defense terming it weak and unreliable.
The court said the medical report that was submitted in court proved that he committed the offence.
The teacher was taken to Industrial area prison to start his sentence. However, the teacher was given 14 days to appeal the judgment.
