UK court jails Simon Harris for 17 years for abusing Kenyan street boys

An undated photo showing Simon Harris who was jailed for 17 years after he was found guilty of sexually abusing Kenyan street children. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He was found guilty if molesting the boys between 1996 and 2013.
  • The case is one of the first of its kind using legislation that allows British citizens to be tried for sex offences committed abroad if it is also an offence in that country.

A Briton has been jailed for 17 years after he was found guilty of sexually abusing Kenyan street children after luring them into his house in Gilgil, Nakuru County.

Simon Harris was found guilty of eight counts indecent and sexual assault by Birmingham Crown Court in the United Kingdom.

He was found guilty if molesting the boys between 1996 and 2013 when he was the head of VAE charity organisation, which placed volunteers in Kenyan schools.

According to BBC, Harris was also convicted for four counts of possessing indecent images of children.

In his judgment, Judge Phillip Parker described Harris as "a significant risk" to young boys and his Kenyan victims had been left "used, degraded, and humiliated".

"The mental scars will almost certainly never heal," Judge Parker said.

BBC stated that the case is one of the first of its kind using legislation that allows British citizens to be tried for sex offences committed abroad if it is also an offence in that country.