Four detained for resolving defilement case using Maslaha

Mohamed Ali, Abdi Barrow Osman, Hassan Barrow Osman and Noor Mohamed Osman who were remanded by a Mandera court for applying Maslaha in a defilement case.


Photo credit: Manase Otsialo | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Four elders were remanded by a Mandera court after they were charged with applying Maslaha in a defilement case.
  • They were charged that on December 7, at Soko Mbuzi within Mandera town, they willingly and unlawfully obstructed the execution of the criminal process by resolving a defilement case.
  • The four decided the matter involving a 15-year-old girl, through Maslaha, preventing the victim from accessing justice.

Four elders were remanded by a Mandera court after they were charged with applying Maslaha (a traditional dispute resolution mechanism) in a defilement case.

Mohamed Ali, Abdi Barrow Osman, Hassan Barrow Osman and Noor Mohamed Osman denied the charge of conspiring to defeat justice and interfering with witnesses.

They were charged that on December 7, at Soko Mbuzi within Mandera town, they willingly and unlawfully obstructed the execution of the criminal process by resolving a defilement case.

According to the charge sheet, the four decided the matter involving a 15-year-old girl, through Maslaha, preventing the victim from accessing justice.

The accused denied the offence before Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Kimani Mukabi and were remanded awaiting a pre-bail report from the probation officer.

Missing from home

Mr Allen Mulama, the prosecutor, opposed releasing the four on bail, arguing that their stay in custody will help in apprehension of the defiler.

“We pray to have all the accused remanded to facilitate the arrest of the defilement suspect who is at large. We also need to find the victim who has gone missing from home,” said Mr Mulama.

He observed that Maslaha has been used in Mandera to delay and deny defilement victims justice, and that the police had managed to get the faces behind the outlawed practice.

In his ruling, Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Kimani Mukabi, said he had considered both the application by the DPP and the responses by the four accused.

Pre-bail report

“The court takes judicial notice of prevalence of the subject offence within jurisdiction. As such, I hereby call for a pre-bail report to be presented in court on December 17, prepared by the probation officer,” ruled Mr Kimani further directed that the accused be remanded at Mandera GK Prison.

The matter will be mentioned on December 17.

Elders have for long used the Maslaha under Islamic Sharia to solve disputes. It is, however, illegal to use the same in handling defilement cases.

Maslaha is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which is mostly used to resolve conflicts that arise between members of the same or different clans. Male elders sit under a tree to resolve a conflict, the family of the accused can give money to that of the victim as a sign of remorse.