Man appeals 45-year jail term only to be slapped with life in prison

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A decision by a man to appeal against a 45-year jail term slapped on him for defiling a neighbour’s child has earned him a lifetime in prison.
Jacob Mutunga is to spend the remaining days of his life behind bars after the High Court found that the trial magistrate erred in convicting him on insufficient and uncorroborated evidence.
In his judgment delivered last week, Justice Robert Limo ruled that the sentence should be increased to life, noting that section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act provides for only one sentence; life imprisonment.
Section 8 (2) of the Act states; A person who commits an offence of defilement with a child aged 11 years or less shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
The Judge noted; “In the end, this court finds that the prosecution’s case against the Appellant was simply overwhelming. The trial evaluated the evidence well and reached the correct conclusion.”
In his judgement, Limo noted that Mutunga’s appeal lacks merit and set aside the 45 years jail term.
“In the end, this appeal lacks merit. The conviction is upheld. The sentence meted out by the trial court of 45 years’ imprisonment is set aside and in its place, the Appellant shall now serve life imprisonment as provided under Section 8 (2) of the Sexual Offence Act,” ruled the court.
The court said the man deserves the life sentence given the trauma he caused the child and the fact that in the process of defilement he infected her with a Sexually Transmitted Disease.
In January 2020, Mutunga was handed 45 years in jail by a chief magistrate court for defiling a 10-year-old girl on September 9, 2018, at 3pm in Thua location, Kitui County.
Aggrieved by the decision, Mutunga lodged an appeal at the High Court, saying the lower court erred in convicting him on insufficient and uncorroborated evidence.
He noted that the prosecution case against him was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
In the lower court, the prosecution relied on the evidence of the minor, medical records that were produced in court, and also the testimony by the girl’s mother.
The trial court evaluated the evidence and found the prosecution’s case had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt upon finding that the defence raised was mere denials.

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