Principal jailed for raping his student

A head teacher in Wajir County was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his student.

Idle Abdi Haret, the principal of Habaswein Mixed Secondary School, was found guilty of rape by a Wajir court.

Haret got 10 years after his lawyer sought a lenient sentence arguing that his client was a first-time offender.

While delivering the judgment, Wajir Senior Resident Magistrate Munene Nyaga said the court had considered the mitigation for leniency, but noted that cases of sexual abuse in the region were on the rise.

The convict has 14 days to appeal the decision.

The case against the teacher was in court for more than one year, as Haret tried to prove his innocence.

The State lined up eight witnesses to prove its case against the teacher.

Haret was accused of sexually abusing the Form Four candidate two days before she sat her KCSE exam.

The victim told the court that the principal called her and informed her that all candidates would be doing revision in preparation for the exam.

She testified that the head teacher told her that the girls would be revising in a private room separate from the boys.

The student said the teacher offered to give her a lift in his vehicle to the centre where they would be revising.

But, along the way, the teacher diverted to a deserted place in Habaswein town where he sexually assaulted her.