Court rules teacher to serve 10 years for indecent act committed in 2012

A primary school teacher has been jailed for 10 years for committing an indecent act with a minor in 2012.

Senior Resident Magistrate Yvonne Khatambi said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offence.

Daniel Kirui Njuguna had been charged with attempted defilement with an alternative count of committing an indecent act.

He was said to have asked the seven-year-old pupil to sit on his lap before committing the crime.

According to court records, Njuguna committed the crime on March 9, 2012, during a school trip.

“The accused asked the complainant to sit on his lap while they were traveling in a 14-seater matatu. He later asked her to turn around and face him before he unzipped his trouser and soiled the minor’s dress,” read the statement.

School uniform

According to the Nakuru resident magistrate, the child in her statement said her teacher urinated on her clothes when he asked her to sit on his lap facing him.

But test results from the Government Chemist which were presented before the court identified the substance from the child's uniform as seminal fluid from the accused.

Njuguna was, however, acquitted of the main charge of attempted defilement after the court cited lack of evidence and proof of intent.

Lawyer Jacinta Moenga, for the accused, pleaded with the court for leniency, stating that his client was a father of three and a teacher who needed to provide for his family.

Sentencing the accused, the magistrate expressed concern about increasing cases of defilement by close relatives and friends.

“It is a shame that the people who have been given the duty to take care of our children turn against them.