Bishop appeals 75-year jail term for defilement : The Standard

A bishop jailed 75 years for defiling three girls and infecting one with HIV has appealed against the sentence. In his appeal, Bishop Joseph Agutu (pictured) has listed seven grounds he is seeking to rely on to have the appellate court overturn the decision by the lower courts. He claims the trial magistrate who convicted him last month erred in law by failing to observe that the case was shoddily investigated. Agutu has also questioned the sentence imposed on him arguing that it was not commensurate for the crime committed.

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In her ruling last month, Resident Magistrate Pauline Mbulika handed the bishop 20 years each for the first three counts of defilement and 15 years for deliberate transmission of HIV. The sentences are running consecutively. He had been accused of committing the offenses between April and July 2016. One of the girls is aged 14 while the other two are 15. The court heard that the bishop had promised to sponsor the girls’ education before he started defiling them. The grandmother of one of the minors told the court how the bishop called to ask if her grandchild would meet some sponsors. “We spoke with him on the phone and he told me that he had helped many children and added that he would take my grandchild to Kisumu,” she said.

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Another minor told the court that the bishop defiled her four times before an uncle of one of the girls came to their rescue. Agutu, however, denied all the allegations that were raised against him. In her ruling, Mbulika said the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, adding that medical reports presented in court indicated that one of the minors had been infected with HIV. In his appeal, the bishop argues that the evidence that was used against him in the case at the lower courts was from members of the same family which he says amounted to “single evidence.” He also argues that the sentence was too harsh.

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“The prosecution sentence imposed was excessive and not commensurate to alleged offense,” read his appeal. This is the second time that Rev. Joseph Agutu is appealing against a defilement conviction.  In 2013 he successfully challenged a 20-year-conviction for similar charges. Then, a High Court in Kisii overturned the conviction handed down by a magistrate’s court that had found him guilty of defiling a 15-year old girl.

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Bishop Joseph AgutuDefilement charges