89-year-old grandpa denies defiling a 14-year-old girl
The main entrance to Bungoma Law Courts
An 89-year-old man was charged in a Bungoma court on Wednesday with defiling a 14-year-old girl.
The suspect denied the charges that he committed the offence between August 7 and 12 in the Mjini slums in Bungoma town.
The accused faces a second count of indecently touching the girl against her will, a charge he also denied before Judge CA Mutai.
The grandpa who lives with his grandchildren, is said to have lured the girl from a neighbouring home into the indecent act by giving her money.
Framed
His lawyer asked the court to release him due to his poor health, saying he will not run away.
"Looking at the age of my client, who is 89 years old, he can't commit the act and it's no doubt that he is being framed since he is almost senile and has no active strength to commit the act," the lawyer said.
Medical report
He also said a medical report was compiled at Bungoma County Referral Hospital six days after the incident.
A granddaughter of the accused told journalists that the father of the violated girl came to their house and accused their grandfather of sexually assaulting her.
The man had found her daughter with money in her savings pot and she had told him that she got it from the elderly man.
"He was beating up the girl and not even giving her time to explain anything. There are many of us girls who have lived here with our grandfather for a long time and he has never attempted to rape any of us," she said.
Released
The suspect was released on a personal bond of Sh120,000.
The case will be mentioned on September 14 and will be heard on October 19.
Incidents of schoolchildren defiled by their relatives, boda boda operators, politicians, teachers and security guards have been reported across the county recently.
The cases are attributed to high consumption of illicit brew, poverty and strange cultural beliefs.
The perpetrators often go scot-free by resolving the disputes in kangaroo courts.
