Two university students cleared of defilement charges
Amos Karani Washiku and Brian Simiyu of Kisii University were released by Eldoret Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo after battling the charges for three years.
Two university students who faced defilement charges have been acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Amos Karani Washiku and Brian Simiyu of Kisii University were released by Eldoret Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo after battling the charges for three years.
The Bachelor of Administration and Bachelor of Education students were arrested by officers from Naiberi police station on October 4, 2019 after the mother of a five-year-old girl reported the matter.
According to the police, the students, who were the child’s neighbours, repeatedly defiled her in the rented house next to her parent’s home.
The accused, who were represented by lawyer Nathan Oburu, said they had suffered a lot in remand before their parents managed to raise the required bond.
The prosecution had told the court that on an unknown date between July and early August 2019 at Kenya Service in Kapsoya estate within Ainabkoi sub-county, they defiled the girl.
They also faced an alternative charge of involvement in an indecent act with a minor.
During the hearing, lawyer Oburu poked holes into the P3 form from the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital which indicated that the child’s scars were as a result of external injuries and not penetration.
He said he wondered how the two young men defiled the minor without injuring her despite her tender age.
Convince this court
“It is illogical to convince this court that my clients, who are adults, defiled the minor in turns without injuring her internally, only bruising her on the area around her private parts,” Mr Oburu told the court.
The prosecution presented in court seven witnesses, including the minor’s mother, whom the defence lawyer accused of forcing her child to “fix” the accused.
While acquitting them on Wednesday, the magistrate said the prosecution’s evidence did not convince the court that the accused were guilty of the offence.
“The evidence produced in this court against the accused by the prosecution has made this court doubt the entire evidence. The court finds that the prosecution has not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and they are, therefore, acquitted under section 215 of CPC, due to insufficient evidence” he ruled.
The accused and their family members started crying as they celebrated the court verdict.
“I thank God for the acquittal of my son despite the hurt that we have suffered as a family. As a mother, I hold no ill will towards the accuser,” said Florence Odero, Simiyu’s mother.
Commenting on his case, Simiyu complained about the Sexual Offences Act, commonly referred to as the Njoki Ndung’u Act, claiming that many young people are rotting in prison, facing defilement charges for offences they did not commit.
