Teacher to serve 25 years in jail for defiling minor

The High Court has jailed a teacher for 25 years for defiling a 10-year-old minor at Ufunu Academy in Kisauni Mombasa.

Earlier, the convict, Joseck Okumbe, had been acquitted by a magistrate court because no one witnessed the defilement.

The magistrate said the key witness, a fellow teacher, did not give evidence linking Okumbe to the defilement. Okumbe was accused of defiling the girl between October 20 and December 19, 2020.

“In a proper investigation, deeper insights into the case would have come out,” reads part of the ruling by the trial magistrate.

The magistrate faulted the prosecution for failing to call the girl's twin sister, another alleged victim of defilement by Okumbe, to testify.

However, the state successfully appealed against Okumbe's acquittal by the lower court over lack of concrete evidence.

In her decision, Justice Anne Onginjo found that the prosecution discharged its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Onginjo set aside the decision by the trial magistrate to acquit Okumbe and slapped him with 25 years in jail term.

One of the witnesses in the case told the court that the minor recounted how Okumbe invited her to the staff room for revision but instead removed her clothes and defiled her.

The witness, another teacher, told the trial court that the girl said that Okumbe repeatedly defiled her when she was in a baby class.

During the appeal, the prosecution said a doctor who examined the child after the case filed with the police confirmed her broken hymen was healing.

Justice Onginjo said that under section 143 of the Evidence Act, no particular number of witnesses shall, in the absence of any provision of law to the contrary, be required to prove the act.

"In sexual offenses, the most crucial witness is usually the victim unless there are eyewitnesses. It is unnecessary to have an eyewitness provided that other circumstances corroborate the fact that the defilement was committed," said Justice Onginjo.

The judge, however, said the provision in Section 124 of the Evidence Act exempts corroboration in sexual offenses where the court finds the witness to be truthful.

The judge said doctor DR AbdulAziz Mohamed corroborated the evidence of the child. “That was sufficient corroboration to prove that she was defiled,” said Justice Onginjo in a judgment read on her behalf by Justice Wendy Kagendo.

“Joseck Okumbe is convicted for the offense of defilement and sentenced to serve imprisonment for 25 years,” said Justice Onginjo.