Justice Njoki Ndung’u narrates how a man groped her in the CBD

Supreme Court Judge Justice Njoki Ndung’u over the weekend narrated how a man groped her in the Nairobi CBD during her campus days.

Speaking during the Seasoned Woman Annual Family Barbeque, Justice Ndung’u revealed that she was once touched by a man inappropriately as she walked along Tubman Road.

“When I was in university I came from Hall 12 where I used to live in first year…There was a notorious area long Kimathi street where some men used to grope women and run off.

“So this day I went and I was prepared…this guy came and grabbed my behind. I turned round and told him that I was also going to touch him.

“He ran away but I chased him up until Hilton. I lost him because I had to stop when a bus was passing,” she narrated.

Adding: “It’s time men who do this to us know how demeaning and humiliating it is to us when someone you have not given permission to touches you.”

“It is horrible to be touched by someone whom you have not given permission to touch you.”

Justice Ndungu, the architect of the Sexual Offenses Act 2006, recently opposed lowering the age of sexual consent from 18 to 16 saying it will put children at significant risk.

Speaking during a consultative forum held by the Community Advocacy and Awareness Trust (CRAWN Trust) in Nairobi, she said that any suggestion to amend the Sexual Offenses Act needs to take into consideration that we could undo a very carefully thought-out process of a law that is now protecting our children and citizens.

“People are saying the sentences are too harsh and too excessive and more recently, that young men are receiving minimum sentences. I would like to dispel this myth.

“The sexual offenses act was carefully negotiated and even at that time it was clear that no children would be sentenced to any minimum sentence,” she stated, further explaining that offenders under 18 do not receive the minimum sentence for sexual offenses but rather, are usually sentenced under the Borstal Institutions Act or Children’s Act, where they receive a maximum sentence of three years.