Teacher sentenced to 90 years in prison for sexually assaulting students
What you need to know:
- The boys, aged between 13 and 16, testified that Mugi fondled their private parts and kissed them after night preps.
- The no-nonsense magistrate told Mugi that he had breached the trust bestowed upon him by parents and committed a heinous on the boys he was supposed to look after.
- The school head was found guilty of professional misconduct and struck off the Teachers Service Commission roll after he tried to cover up the case.
A primary school teacher has been sentenced to 90 years in prison by a Murang’a court for sexually assaulting 10 students.
He will serve nine years for each assault. The sentences will run consecutively.
As John Gichia Mugi was hauled out of court to start what is effectively a life sentence, his parents wept uncontrollably in court. Mugi will be released when he is 113 years old.
Mugi, 23, indecently assaulted the 10 boys at a school in Kiharu Constituency between January and May 2015.
The boys, aged between 13 and 16, testified that Mugi fondled their private parts and kissed them after night preps. Mugi was also their boarding master.
Magistrate Jesse Masiga handed him the stiff sentence and called it a deterrence. He said every count earned a jail term of nine years.
The no-nonsense magistrate told Mugi that he had breached the trust bestowed upon him by parents and committed a heinous act on the boys he was supposed to look after.
"The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that you had sexually assaulted the boys. I sentence you to serve a 10-year prison term for each of the nine counts of sexual assault you are charged with. The sentences will run consecutively,” the magistrate said.
The assault came to light after one of the boys insisted he wanted to go home with his parents after a parents’ meeting.
Asked why he was so adamant to leave, the boy revealed what the teacher used to do to them at night. Mugi fled after the boys exposed him.
Eleven students came forward and exposed the teacher, but one was struck out by the court due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Medical records at Muriranjas Hospital showed that the students had been indecently assaulted but were not molested.
They narrated to the court how the teacher made attempts to molest them in their dormitories but they resisted.
The school headteacher was found guilty of professional misconduct and struck off the Teachers Service Commission roll after he tried to cover up the case.
Mugi told the court that the students conspired with some teachers to frame him. He claimed he was innocent.
He said his “strong Christian faith” would not allow him to engage in such shameful acts and that students also disliked his high-handedness.
Magistrate Masiga was not convinced and Mugi was hauled off into a prison truck to begin his new life behind bars.
