Kenyan court jails Italian man for life for defiling 3-year-old adopted son

The defilement convict will serve life in jail at the Kisumu Maximum Prison. [Harold Odhiambo, Standard]

A 50-year-old Italian national has been sentenced to life in jail by a Kisumu court for defiling his 3-year-old adopted son.

The Kisumu Magistrate's Court heard that the accused committed the crime at Manyatta Estate in Kisumu County on February 15, 2022.

The suspect had just arrived in Kenya from Italy, when he committed the crime.

Medical examination reports and eight witnesses implicated the accused, who had been charged with defilement and committing an indecent act with a child.

Kisumu Resident Magistrate Chrispine Ouro said the prosecution had provided sufficient evidence against the Italian.

The court heard that the accused arrived in Kenya on February 14, 2022 and flew to Kisumu where his lover lived.

The accused's partner was staying with the child, whom they had adopted in 2019.

Mother was relaxing

The court was told that the Italian man sodomised the boy when his partner was relaxing on the balcony.

"I had left my spouse watching television and the boy was in his room. Several minutes later, the boy rushed to the balcony while crying. It was then that I discovered he'd been defiled after removing his diapers," said the Italian national's partner.

The woman said she, thereafter, lied to her spouse that she was stepping out to buy something from the shop. She then took the child to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital for medical examination.

Doctors at the facility confirmed that the minor had been defiled. Upon interrogation by medics, the boy said it was the Italian citizen who had defiled him.

The accused, however, denied the charges, saying he and his spouse were seated on the balcony that day and, therefore, there was no way he would have defiled the child.

Magistrate Ouro said the minor was fully aware of his surrounding and was in a position to positively identify his molester. "Penetration was proved by the prosecution. All the key ingredients of the offence of defilement were also proved by the prosecution," said the senior resident magistrate.

"I'm therefore sentencing the accused to life imprisonment," said Ouro.