Man’s bar confession of involvement with minor gets him 15 years in jail

If you want to know the raw truth, talk to a drunk man, so they say.

This is the story of a casual labourer who, in a drunken stupor, handed himself to the long hand of the law and, subsequently, 15 years to cool his heels behind bars.

On March 15, 2021, at Mamba Village, Ndalani, Machakos County, a 16-year-old girl went for an escapade with a casual laborer identified in the court judgment as Francis.

The minor said they used to have sex, but she got pregnant on that date.

The girl’s parents were not aware that she was in a relationship until the villagers got wind of it from the horse’s mouth while he was drunk.

The minor’s mother told the court that on the same day, Francis defiled her daughter, he went to a nearby club and started spilling the beans that he had impregnated her.

She narrated that an elder called Muli asked her whether she knew if the girl codenamed FN was pregnant, but she replied that she was unaware.

The court heard that FN’s mother got her to open up, that he initially used force to steal her innocence, and subsequently, they made out without coercion. She reported the same to the Mamba Police Post.

Police Constable Dorothy Ochieng testified that a parent of a class eight pupil had reported that a casual worker had impregnated her daughter, and he had confessed about it.

She said the culprit vanished, only to be arrested in Yatta five months later.

The girl gave birth on December 13, 2021, and a DNA test affirmed Francis’s claims.

 Francis was jailed for 15 years by the magistrate’s court, owing to his confession and evidence.

Aggrieved, he moved to the High Court, claiming that he did not know that the girl was 17 years.

In his appeal before Justice Margaret Muigai, he argued that the jail term was excessive and that the lower court did not consider the evidence in his favor.

In his unsworn evidence, he claimed that the minor was his girlfriend and they had been together for a long time. In addition, he admitted to the pregnancy.

Francis said he just saw she was an adult.

However, he claimed that she revealed to him that she was 17 when she was going to give birth.

It emerged that they had been together for four days when she got pregnant.

Justice Muigai, in her judgment, affirmed the magistrate’s court conviction and sentence.

She said Francis cooked his goose by confessing to a crime and subsequently running away.

According to the judge, he ought to have gone to her parents and informed them about the relationship if he was certain that she was over 18 years old and they were in an open relationship.

“Instead, he was drunk and claimed that he impregnated the complainant; later, he claimed to take care of the child, but thereafter, he ran away until his arrest.

“These facts are not conclusive and consistent of an open relationship as he believed the complainant was over 18 years old,” said Justice Muigai.

She also noted that he never took care of the girl, even after knowing that he had impregnated her.

According to the judge, he knew too well that he was taking advantage of her as he vanished immediately he knew that his actions were left naked and in the open for all to see.

“No approach was made by or with members of the 2 families, the Complainant’s family and or the appellant’s family. This court considers the insinuated defense of Section 8(5) of the Sexual Offences Act to be an afterthought.

“The appeal is dismissed, conviction upheld, and sentence upheld,” said the judge.