Teenager gets 15 years in prison for gang rape

On October 4, 2010, James Mwangi (not his real name) was whiling his time away with his three friends at Kirimunge Shopping Centre in Kirinyaga County.

At about 8:30pm, they saw 24-year-old Christine (not her real name) hurriedly walk by and the four rowdy teens followed her.

Once they got near a lighted Catholic Church and Kirimunge Primary School, Mwangi and his friends made their move.

One grabbed Christine by the neck and covered her mouth with his hand. She screamed and bit his finger in an attempt to get away but unfortunately the other boys closed in on them and covered her mouth.

Hearing the sound of an approaching vehicle the teens carried her shoulder high to a nearby farm, tore off her clothes and raped her in turns. They then repeatedly attacked her and when they were done they took off and left her lying there.

Left alone, Christine struggled to walk and went to a nearby home where she informed the owner of her ordeal. She also identified her rapists by name, since they came from the same village. The house owner assisted her to call her brother who took her to hospital.

That same night, with the help of a village elder, police set out to look for the rapists and the one month later Mwangi and one of his friends were arrested while the other two remain at large.

The two were arraigned in court charged with the offence of gang rape and were convicted to serve 25 years in prison.

They appealed the ruling and while the conviction was upheld, the appellants age was brought to question after it emerged that Mwangi was barely 18 when he committed the office while his friend was below 18.

The sentence was reduced to 15 years for Mwangi while his co-accused was sentenced to serve three years in a borstal institution.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Mwangi moved to the Court of Appeal of Nyeri requesting reduction of his sentence.

His appeal was, however, dismissed by judges Phillip Waki, Roselyn Nambuye and Patrick Kiage who in their February 9, 2016 ruling said the 15 year sentence was the bare minimum allowed by law.