Judiciary: Woman was lawfully convicted for defilement

The Judiciary has defended the conviction and sentencing of a woman accused of defiling a 13-year-old boy nine years ago.

Through the Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Communication Catherine Wambui, the Judiciary says that Lydia Achieng's case was conclusively dealt with and she was lawfully convicted.

"The case was conclusively dealt with in accordance with the law, the Judiciary has the responsibility of applying the law and ensure that those adults who prey on minors are duly punished," she said.

TV INTERVIEW

Earlier, in a television interview on Inooro TV, Achieng had claimed that she was unlawfully convicted and jailed, allegations that saw the Director of Public Prosecutions order for the re-opening of her case.

Achieng was accused of unlawfully touching the genitals of the said minor between August and September 2010 at Leiser estate in Kajiado County.

After she was arrested, charged in court during the era of police prosecutors where four witnesses testified against her, she was found guilty of the offence and was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

In her own account during the TV interview, Achieng claimed she was arrested after she had had an exchange with the boy’s mother over a man. She said she was in a salon when police arrested her.

BAR ROW

But court records show that she was arrested after the said woman walked into a bar, called her a prostitute and accused her of going out with her man and vowed to teach her a lesson.

Achieng had told the court that when she walked to the nearby police station to report the matter, she found the woman already there and the police arrested her.

COURT RECORDS

In the court records she claimed that she learnt of the defilement charges at the police station.

But the court relied on four witness testimonies to determine the case.

She was sentenced on August 24, 2012.

She filed an appeal on July 11, 2016 seeking to have her sentence quashed after she had already served four years in jail.

High Court Judge Ngenye Macharia ruled on July 28, 2016 that her sentence was reasonable considering the fact that the Sexual Offenses Act stipulates imprisonment for not less than ten years for the offence she had been charged with. The judge dismissed her appeal.

The two accounts of the story have consequently raised eyebrows that Achieng lied during the TV interview.