Man to serve 20 years in jail for raping 80-year-old grandmother

By James Munyeki

Laikipia,Kenya: A middle aged man who raped an 80 year old woman has been sentenced to serve 20 years in jail.

A Nyahururu court sentenced the 34 year man after it found him guilty of the offence which occurred on August 8 last year.

Samuel Kariuki raped the granny as she slept on the morning of the fateful day at Ngombe Moja village in Laikipia.

The two are said to be close neighbours in the same village.

The court heard that the accused had entered the victim’s house and repeatedly raped her as she slept.

It was then that she collapsed since the accused had tied her with a rope and had handcuffed her.

In her testimony before the court last year, she narrated how the accused put a piece of a cloth in her mouth.

“This was meant to prevent me from calling out for help and I collapsed after he repeatedly raped me. I had not noticed that he was in the house since I was asleep,’she told the court.

During the incident, the granny also sustained serious injuries on her lips as she resisted the attack.

The accused had told the court that when she woke up, she screamed for help and called on neighbours who upon her narrating to them what had happened indentified the suspect.

They arrested him in his house and later handed him to the police in Rumuruti town.

Chief inspector Paul Omweri said that the indentified him with the clothe that he was wearing on that particular day as the victim had described.

Acting principal magistrate Denis Mikoyan termed the offence as serious and shameful and ordered the man to serve 20 years in jail.