Lamu police officer handed life imprisonment for aggravated rape

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul  4 – A Lamu-based court on Friday handed a police officer found guilty of raping a woman who had gone to report an incident a police station life imprisonment with an additional 10 years for abuse of authority.

In a ruling rendered by Principal Magistrate Allan Temba, Rodgers Ouma, 28, was also ordered to pay Sh400,000 as damages to the victim.

He was found guilty of raping the 26-year-old victim after luring her to his house at located the Langoni Police Lines in December 2019.

The magistrate established Ouma had abused his authority by promising the woman he could help her with the case she had gone to report.

The woman, according to the court, arrived at the police station at 8pm on the fateful day to report her husband who was forcing her to take abortion pills.

The magistrate declared Ouma a dangerous sexual convict terming his actions as aggravated rape under Section 39(1) (b) of the Sexual Offences Act.

“For the aggravated rape, the court sentences him to life imprisonment to protect the complainant from the promised threat and to act as a deterrent to other like-minded persons,” Principal Magistrate Allan Temba ruled.

The 10-year sentence in relation to the second count of abuse of authority will run concurrently with life imprisonment.

The Sh400,000 award for the victim will be paid as compensation for soft tissue injuries and physiological trauma as provided for under the Penal Code.

“Any person who does an act not authorized by law or omits to discharge a legal duty and thereby causes any common injury, or danger or annoyance, or obstructs or causes inconvenience to the public in the exercise of common rights, commits the misdemeanour termed a common nuisance and is liable to imprisonment for one year,” Section 175 (1) reads.

“It is immaterial that the act or omission complained of is convenient to a larger number of the public than it inconveniences, but the fact that it facilitates the lawful exercise of their rights by a part of the public may show that it is not a nuisance to any of the public,” Section 175 (2) further provides.

Ouma has 14 days to appeal the sentence.