Man to spend life in jail for killing wife, infecting daughter with Aids

An appeal filed by a man imprisoned for life for killing his wife and defiling his 11-year-old step-daughter has been dismissed.

The High Court in Nyeri threw out the appeal by the convict (name withheld to protect the identity of the minor), who was jailed for life by a magistrate's court last year.

Justice Jairus Ngaah said the evidence adduced at the trial court against the accused was watertight as he personally confessed to the police about the offences four years later.

The judge termed the incident chilling after hearing how the man pulled the minor out of her bedroom where she was sleeping with her two other siblings and defiled her.

The court noted the girl was honest and candid about the incident that occurred on the night of October 19 and 20, 2011, at their home in Mweiga, Kieni West.

The minor told the court she could not scream as the man, who she referred to as Daddy, threatened her with death.

After committing the act, the suspect went into hiding, only to resurface after four years before surrendering himself at Othaya police station where he confessed the murder and the defilement.

Upon confession, the minor, who was living at a children’s refuge centre, was on May 2, 2015, taken to Nyeri Referral Hospital for medical examination where she was found to be HIV-positive.

During hearing of the case, he later denied defiling the minor.

While upholding the sentence, the judge said the minor could not have gone to hospital since the person she believed could have taken her to hospital was dead.

“I reckon the loss of her mother was such a painful experience even an adult would have been forgiven for being weighed down by the loss of one’s mother rather seeking a timely medical attention for the kind of injury that the complainant sustained,” said the judge.