Mandera court jails man for life for defiling minor

A miraa vendor in Mandera town has been jailed for life after he was found guilty of defiling a girl aged eight years.

Mohamed Okash Ali, 32, who was sentenced on Wednesday, was charged that on April 5, 2019, he defiled the girl in his compound.

During the proceedings, the minor told the court that she had gone to Ali’s compound to play with other children at about 2pm.

“He called me inside his room where a found him seated on a bed. He asked me to remove my clothes and lie on the same bed,” the minor told the court during the hearing.

UNABLE TO SCREAM

She said she was unable to scream since the accused had covered her mouth and threatened her.

“He left me in the room and I went home crying. I told my mother later in the night what happened to me,” she said.

The victim’s mother said she returned home from the market at about 6pm and found her daughter crying.

“My child only told me she was feeling unwell and I went on to prepare food. Her crying persisted at night as she complained of a headache, stomach ache and general body pains,” the mother told the court.

She said her child revealed what happened to her at about 2am.

ARRESTED

“I called a police reservist and we went to the suspect’s home and arrested him.”

In his defence, Ali said he was picked by two police reservists accompanied by a woman and a child at about 3am from his house.

“I had spent my afternoon in a football pitch before I went to the Mosque that evening,” he said.

In his ruling, Mandera Principal Magistrate Peter Areri dismissed the accused person’s defence, terming it incredible.

“The prosecution’s evidence is overwhelming against the accused person whose defence together with that of his witness is incredible, contrary and false,” ruled Mr Areri.

FRAMING CLAIM

Ali maintained in his defence that the minor and her mother framed him after he declined the woman’s sexual advances.

An investigating officer said the accused gave the minor a packet of biscuits to buy her silence.

In another ruling in the same court, an Islamic Duksi teacher was jailed for ten years for attempted defilement.

Ali Hassan Wardere was found guilty of attempting to defile a six-year-old girl at his Duksi classroom in Mandera East Sub-County.

The court was convinced that Wardere lured the girl on the fateful day.

The minor said the teacher asked her to stay back and continue reciting the Quran only to turn against her.

Wardere, while defending himself, said he had been framed by the minor’s mother after the father failed to pay for the Duksi classes for several months.

“The mother of this child framed me after I asked for my payment of about three months that her husband owed me for Duksi classes,” he said.