By Renson Mnyamwezi
Wundanyi GK Prison has declined to admit a boy sentenced to a six-month jail term.
The teenager was jailed for housebreaking and attempted theft by a court in Taita Taveta but the facility is not ready to host him.
Wundanyi Resident Magistrate Maisy Chesang found the suspect, 17, guilty after he admitted to breaking into Mathew Mwendwa’s house at Mukengerenyi village.
The conviction meant the teenager was to be clapped into the nearest jail but yesterday, the Prisons Department and police confirmed the minor had been turned away by the penal facility because he was below the age of 18.
An age assessment report, produced during the trial seen by The Standard and signed by Wundanyi Sub District Hospital clinician David Gona on May 31, said the accused is below 18.
The boy has been languishing at the Wundanyi Police Station for three weeks now, waiting for justice to be done.
Taita OCPD Nathaniel Aseneka said they were holding the boy at Wundanyi juvenile police cells.
“We could not have left him free after the prison refused to admit him and that’s why we’re still holding him,” said the officer.
A human rights lobby, Taita-Taveta Human Rights Watch, condemned the incident and termed it a violation of human rights.
“It is against the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Constitution,” said the region’s lobby group leader Haji Mwakio.
In an interview, Mr Mwakio demanded the release of the boy failure to which his organisation would take the Judiciary to court.
