A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a court in Kisumu found him guilty of defiling his nine-month-old stepdaughter.
Principal Magistrate Jocelyn Kimetto, sitting at the Kombewa Magistrate’s Court, convicted the man under Section 8(1), read together with Section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006. The prosecution was led by Principal Prosecution Counsel Caroline Kiptum.
The accused, who is the infant’s stepfather, had denied the charges, including an alternative count of committing an indecent act with a child under Section 11(1) of the same Act. The court heard that the offence occurred on July 19, 2025, at approximately 8:30 pm in Seme Sub-County, Kisumu County, where the man was accused of unlawfully defiling the infant.
During the trial, the prosecution presented four witnesses to support the charges. Their evidence included testimony from a clinician who examined the child and documented a fractured thigh bone and visible lacerations, findings presented to the court in support of the prosecution’s case. The prosecution further established that the incident occurred when the child’s mother had briefly left the house to seek medication from her mother-in-law after experiencing pain in her left hand.
After considering the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defence, Magistrate Kimetto concluded that the prosecution had met the required legal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
In her ruling, the magistrate stated that the evidence sufficiently established the main charge against the accused, leading to his conviction and the imposition of a life sentence. The court has granted the convict 14 days to appeal the conviction and sentence.
