A Lamu court has slapped a man, 28, with a three-decade jail term for defiling a 12-year-old girl.
The court heard how the convict’s family offered furniture to the minor’s family as a mode of compensation for the defilement.
But the deal fell through after the convict’s family failed to keep their side of bargain, forcing the minor’s relatives to seek justice with the authorities.
Lamu Resident Magistrate Hon. Flavian Mulama found Jafar Mohamed Alias Mudhafar guilty of defilement contrary to section 8(1) as read with 8(2) of the sexual offences act no.3 of 2006.
Prosecution Counsel Ahmed Omar Mohamed availed 6 witnesses to prove the case against the convicted defiler.
Further, Hon. Flavian gave a tongue-lashing to mothers of the accused and the defiled girl for condoning the criminal act. The two women entered into a concession to settle the matter with the victim’s mother reporting the incident with police after the accused’s family failed on the terms of compensation.
The victim impact statement report indicated that the girl lost her virginity to the accused in 2022 following a series of unprotected sex.
The report further indicates that the girl was on the verge of dropping out of the school following persistent pressure from the accused who promised to marry her.
Hon. Flavian was more enraged with a female Lamu county hospital clinical officer, who doctored the medical report and encouraged the two families to settle the matter out of court.
The medic’s action tempted the victim’s mother to ask for full furniture which comprise of a bed, wardrobe and a dressing table as a restitution measure.
“It was wrong for the treating doctor one Aziza S Mbaruk to allow and/or permit any interference with the treatment notes and all these intentions are made clear by her advise to the victims to resolve the matter out of court. For you, I will not say shame on you but I will ask that your immediate supervisor and your relevant regulatory body to take note of this unbecoming behaviour as all these were made to mislead the court,” the court noted.
More baffling is the accused’s confessing during his defence that he was a married man and an adoring father to 2 twins’ girls.
“I have only one question for you today. How would you have felt if another man your age does what you did to the victim herein to any or both of your daughters? And this includes a funny and misguided request that they drop from school so that he marries her or them? I bet you would be as mad as the word itself and in this side of the county you would be armed with a panga or a knife ready to attack the perpetrator and this grudge would have played through the generations to come.”
The magistrate took issue with the culprit’s mother, who prepared a meal of rice and stew and a hot breakfast and delivered the same to her son while in the room with the girl.
“We can all guess again what would have happened had the mother of the accused person called him out and not condoned the behaviour by her son. Shame on you for encouraging your son to commit the offence. You had the power to stop your son’s shenanigans but you promoted it by providing food, maybe so that he has the energy. Sadly, that may be his last meal prepared by you for the next couple of years to come,” the court observed.
The magistrate further lashed out at the victim’s mother for seeking a fully decorated furniture, something that would have not survived 7 years, as a compensation for her daughter’s virginity.
“For your information, the virginity was not yours but hers and as a mother you have all the rights to protect her from it being taken away from her until she is 18 years old and that is when she is lawfully assumed to have the power to determine how, when and to whom it should be lost to,” The magistrate added:
“To all the mothers present in court and those who will ever mind reading this ruling. Your children are your investment and who will come to your aid in your old age and hence the need to protect them from harmful behaviour and persons.
“Allowing them to blunder at their tender age and encouraging them to blunder not only renders them useless persons in the society but also make you as parents suffer in your old age.