No, a woman defiling a boy is no fun, it's sexual abuse
Damaris Kerubo at the Makadara Law Courts. The 23-year-old was charged with defiling a 16-year-old student in Embakasi, Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- A defilement case last week sparked online jokes on both the suspect and the minor.
- A child who engages in sexual conduct of any kind is in need of care and protection.
A Makadara magistrates' court on Wednesday last week charged a 23-year-old woman accused of defiling a 16-year-old high school student at their home in Embakasi, Nairobi. The case is ongoing.
The news sparked online mockery of both the suspect and the minor. One Twitter user posted: “Kijana wa Form 2 alikatia woman. Woman akaingia box. Woman sai (A Form Two boy successfully wooed a woman and now the woman) is facing years in jail.”
Another said: “It's immoral. However, 16 years is a Form 2/3 student who's conscious of what he was doing. He's mature enough. What will change in 2 years for the boy?”
In March 2019, three Court of Appeal judges proposed a law change to lower the age of consent from 18 to 16.
In making the changes, judges Roselyn Nambuye, Daniel Musinga and Patrick Kiage, hoped it would address the lengthy jail terms imposed on young men convicted of defilement.
They further said: “It is rather unrealistic to assume that teenagers and maturing adults…do not engage in, and often seek sexual activity with their eyes fully open. They may not have attained the age of maturity but may well have reached the age of discretion and are able to make intelligent and informed decisions about their lives and their bodies.”
They set the stage for pro-and anti-law change discussions. The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), the state agency rooting for gender equality, faulted the judges, saying: “The proposal flew in the face of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of a child.”
NGECchairperson Joyce Mutinda then said the change would work against both girls and boys. “It would be simplistic to lower the age of consent for sex ostensibly to shield the girl child while in actual fact boys are being sexually molested as well adding that statistics do indicate that young boys are increasingly becoming targets of sexual violence,” she said.
However, Jill Cottrell Ghai, director at Katiba Institute, supported the judges’ view. In an opinion piece published in a local daily newspaper on April 14, 2019, she said: “Our law is completely unrealistic. Research shows about half of young people have sex before they are 18. The idea that no one under 18 can consent is not a statement of fact, it is a legal fiction.”
Until the changes happen, 18 years is the age of consent to sex as provided for in the Sexual Offences Act (2006). And child sexual abuse isn’t a matter of fun but an issue of violating a child’s right to proper care and protection.
Of emphasis, under the Children Act (2022), one abuses a child if he or she exposes them to age-inappropriate acts, content, or information. Failure to report the same is child abuse and subject to prosecution. Similarly, the law identifies a child who engages in sexual conduct of any kind to be in need of care and protection.
And so, no mockery can be entertained when a child is abused regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl.
