AP earns 20-year jail term for defiling schoolgirl

Joseph Mutua, who has since been interdicted, was found guilty of defiling the schoolgirl while she was on her way home from school.PHOTO: COURTESY

An Administration Police officer was yesterday jailed for 20 years for defiling a 13-year-old girl in 2010.

Joseph Mutua, who has since been interdicted, was found guilty of defiling the schoolgirl while she was on her way home from school.

Mr Mutua had said he was unaware the girl was underage and only realised it after sleeping with her.

The court heard that the girl's teachers discovered she was pregnant and informed her parents, who in turn sought help from Riples International, a girl's rights organisation.

But Mutua managed to convince the girl's parents not to pursue the matter in court.

The accused, in his early 30s, said he was taking care of the baby and the girl, who was now his wife.

In 2012, the girl's parents pulled her and her baby from Riples International's safe custody but the organisation successfully petitioned the High Court, which ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions and the police to investigate the case.

A DNA test was done to determine the baby's paternity and the results were 99.9 per cent positive that Mutua was the father.

Yesterday, Riples International Executive Director Mercy Chidi-Baidoo, speaking outside the court after the ruling by Maua Chief Magistrate Oscar Wanyaga, said justice had been served.

Mr Wanyaga said Mutua's claim that he only realised he had slept with a minor after the act was not convincing.

"The girl is now in Form Three and we are happy. After many delaying tactics by the defence, the matter has finally been concluded, six years later. The parents had wanted the case withdrawn because the accused had married the girl and they were living as man and wife," said Ms Chidi-Baidoo.

She said the organisation had taken the girl in after she delivered her baby but her parents came for her and she had to let her go.

"But we pursued the matter vigorously in spite of attempts by her parents and the officer to have it terminated," she said.