A Busia man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a magistrate’s court found him guilty of defiling a four-year-old girl in an offence committed in October 2022.
The conviction followed a prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which presented the child’s testimony, medical findings and evidence from other witnesses to establish the case. In a judgment delivered on October 29, 2026, Busia Magistrate J.D. Ochieng found the accused guilty of defilement under Section 8(1), as read with Section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act.
The court heard that the offence occurred on various dates between October 14 and 21, 2022, in a village in Busia County. The accused allegedly lured the child into a sugarcane plantation by offering her white ants before sexually assaulting her.
The prosecution called five witnesses, including the child’s mother, grandmother, the complainant, an investigating officer and a clinical officer. The case was presented by prosecution counsel Eric Mose and Lilian Nyaboke.
The child’s mother told the court that she became concerned on October 21, 2022, after noticing redness, discharge and pain around the child’s genital area while bathing her. She subsequently took her to hospital and reported the incident to police.
The grandmother also testified that she had observed swelling in the child’s genital area days earlier after the girl complained of pain.
In her testimony, the child described how the accused allegedly lured her into the sugarcane plantation using an offer of white ants. She identified him as the perpetrator, saying she knew him as a neighbour.
Medical findings presented in court showed that the child had sustained genital bruising, swelling and redness, alongside watery discharge. Although the examination found the hymen intact, the court held that the injuries were consistent with partial penetration.
The magistrate emphasised that the law does not require complete penetration for an offence of defilement to be established, adding that an intact hymen does not automatically disprove the offence.
The accused denied the allegations and claimed they had been fabricated due to a land dispute between his family and the complainant’s relatives. However, the court found that the explanation did not account for the medical evidence or the child’s identification of him.
In its determination, the court described the child’s testimony as credible and found that it was supported by the medical findings and other prosecution evidence.
The magistrate consequently ruled that the prosecution had proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the accused’s conviction and life sentence.
