High Court upholds 20-year sentence for rapist father
The High Court in Nanyuki on June 15, 2017 upheld a 20-year sentence against a man found guilty of raping his step-daughter. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
A 70-year-old man will serve 20 years in prison after a High Court in Nanyuki rejected his appeal and found him guilty of raping his step-daughter
His efforts to appeal the sentence were dealt a blow by Justice Mary Kasango after finding that a police report produced in court revealed that 19-year-old woman was mentally challenged.
He had been handed the sentence by Maralal Principal Magistrate Charles Ndegwa in March last year.
The man wanted a shorter sentence on the basis of his age and that he is married with six children who depend on him.
SECOND CHANCE
He added that he is now reformed and seeks a second chance.
The prosecution opposed the appeal, asking the court to find that the sentence was commensurate to the offence.
“He needs to be released in order to take care of his children. It is, however, one of those children that he was charged with having raped,” noted Justice Kasango.
“As a father, he breached the trust a child would have towards a parent. He was supposed to be a protector of his step-daughter but he turned to be the attacker,” observed the judge.
She said the sentence imposed by the lower court was proportionate to the offence according to the Sexual Offences Act of 2006.
