Defiler jailed for life after appeal against 7-year term

A man who defiled a minor has been imprisoned for life after unsuccessfully appealing against a seven-year jail term.

David Kamau Muthike had been jailed by a magistrates court for defiling a seven-year-old girl.

He appealed at the High Court, arguing he was erroneously jailed.

The appellate court however said the lower court had given him a lenient sentence for the offence and that he ought to be behind bars for the rest of his life.

High Court judge Robert Kipkoech found the State had proven the defilement case beyond reasonable doubt.

"The long and short of this is that I find no merit in this appeal. The same is dismissed. And in the light of my above finding, I find that the learned trial magistrate erroneously acquitted the appellant on the charge of defilement and convicted him on a lesser charge," said judge Kipkoech.

"This court shall reverse the conviction and the sentence meted out against the appellant and because the law provides for only one sentence, he is sentenced to imprisonment for life."

In the case, the court was told the man waylaid the girl who was with another child on October 27, 2013 and locked up her in his house where he defiled her.

According to the girl's mother, they found the child in Muthike's bed naked. The convict had already escaped through the window by the time she gained entry into the house.

On taking the victim to hospital, doctors found that she had been defiled. The girl was also called to testify and she told the court that the man had "done bad things to her" and threatened to beat her up if she spilled the beans.

In a rebuttal, Muthike told the court that the accusations were based on bad blood between him and his accusers. He claimed the child was coached to frame him.

The judge however disagreed with the argument, noting that what the young girl had narrated was the truth.

He said: "The minor knew the appellant well and I concur with the finding of the trial magistrate that there was no reason for the complainant or the other witnesses to implicate him falsely. There was no evidence tendered to show that there was bad blood between the appellant and the complainant's family."

The judge also noted that medical evidence also implicated Muthike and that the girl was found naked in his room.