Court reduces ‘shamba boy’ life sentence to 20 years

A convict serving life imprisonment for sexual offence got a reprieve when his sentence was reduced to a 20-year jail term by the High Court.

Justice Jesse Njagi ruled that the appellant was a young man at the time of the offence and does not deserve to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Elvis Wafula Wasike was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of defiling an eight year old girl on July 12, 2015 at Mapanga village, Mumias East sub-county.

The complainant told the court she had returned home from church on the day she was defiled. The girl, together with two of her siblings, had been left under the care of Wasike who was their farm boy.

She said Wafula called her to the kitchen saying he wanted to send her but instead undressed and defiled her.

When her mother returned two hours later, she noticed that her daughter was uncharasterically reserved. On enquiry, Wafula told her she had fallen down while playing.

But the next day, her daughter told her she had been defiled and threatened by Wafula of dire consequences if she told anyone.

Wafula was arrested and charged with defilement and an alternative count of committing indecent acts with a minor.

He was handed a life sentence which he appealed at the High Court, arguing that the trial court had erred in law and findings on convicting him on evidence marred with contradictions and inconsistencies.