Siaya man to spend 20 years in prison for defiling teen

On January 17, 2013 in Bondo town, Siaya County, Jasmine (not her real name), left her 15-year-old daughter Beatrice (not her real name) and her younger sibling at home under the care of her husband Cornel Ogutu.

Ogutu was the step father to Jasmine’s children and as she went to the market she was certain her children were in safe hands.

At around 5pm, Beatrice’s younger sibling left the house to play outside, at this point Ogutu summoned her from the sitting room in the pretext he wanted to send her to the nearby shops.

In the bedroom Ogutu held down Beatrice so she could not scream, removed her undergarments and defiled her.

As this was going on, Charles Owino - a friend of Ogutu, walked in and caught his friend committing the heinous act.

Owino had left his construction job at around 5:30pm and decided to stop at his friend’s house for a drink before heading home. He entered the house without knocking and what he saw startled him causing him to dash out and call Ogutu’s neighbour.

When they returned to the house, they found Ogutu dressing up while Beatrice still lay on the bed.

Ogutu quickly finished dressing and dashed out of his home leaving his friend and neighbour trying to help Beatrice.

Owino then telephoned Jasmine and the chairman of the local community policing committee and they then took the devastated teenager to hospital.

At Bondo District Hospital, Beatrice was examined by clinical officer Joseph Oduor who noted there was obvious sexual penetration noted with presence of mobile spermatozoa. Ogutu stayed away from his home but was eventually arrested and arraigned in court.

In his defence, Ogutu said he saw Beatrice for the first time in court and that a family grudge was the reason for the claims.

His allegations were however, dismissed and the trial court found him guilty of defilement and convicted him to serve 20 years in prison.

Ogutu then moved to the High Court which upheld the lower court’s ruling prompting him to seek redress from the Kisumu Court of Appeal.

Sitting to give their ruling on September 23, 2016 Court of Appeal judges Daniel Musinga, Agnes Murgor and Stephen Kairu also dismissed his appeal and upheld his conviction.