Two KCSE candidates in court over sodomising 16-year-old boy

Six minors among them two candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education have been charged with gang raping a 16-year-old boy at Shikusa Juvenile Prison.

Four suspects pleaded guilty of sodomising the boy on two consecutive days. According to State Prosecution Hilda Omondi, the six are being held at the facility for correctional purposes after they were convicted on separate offences.

Ms Omondi told the court that on October 23 three of the accused persons left their beds at the dormitory where they are housed and proceeded to the complainant’s bed.

The complainant, who was reluctant to comply with their sexual advances was molested and forced to go through the ordeal with a warning not to report.

“When they were done, they left him with a stern warning not to disclose the activity if he valued his life. The following day [October 24], the other three proceeded to make similar demands,” Ms. Omondi told the court.

However, a prison warder manning the dormitory is said to have heard commotion on the second day and peeped through the window and noticed some of the accused persons were not at their respective beds and instead were at the victim’s bed.

They pretended that they were borrowing a newspaper and were ordered to return to their beds.

Angered with the pattern of events, the complainant convicted of threatening his mother with death opted to run away from the facility on October 25 but was accosted by officers on duty.

“Upon probing, the complainant narrated what he had gone through citing it as the only reason he wanted to run away. The matter was investigated and reported to Kakamega Central Police Station,” said the Prosecutions Counsel.

Ms Omondi maintained that all of them have criminal records; one convicted of defilement, being in possession of bhang and stealing.

She produced Post Rape Care (PRC) Form and P3 Form issued by a medical officer at Shikusa Health Center where penetration was confirmed.

According to the PRC form, the complainant had injuries in his anal area and soft tissue injuries on the upper side of his limbs.

The two candidates aged 17 pleaded for leniency saying they are remorseful for committing the offences and sought for a second chance to complete their education.

Convicting the four, Kakamega Senior Resident Magistrate Erck Malesi ordered probation officers to file a pre-sentencing report to aid in sentencing.

The other two who denied the charges were ordered to be remanded at a separate remand facility as they await their trial on November 29.