A seven-year-old girl who was allegedly defiled by her neighbour narrated how the assailant duped her into going to his house.
The pre-unit pupil, who was testifying in camera, told the court that the accused, Erastus Mukelemo, on June 3 found her with her sister and two other girls harvesting mangoes. She said he asked her to go with him to get some money.
“I left my friends and accompanied the accused person, who is a neighbour. When we arrived at his house, he told me to undress. He also removed his trousers and committed the offence,” Senior Principal Magistrate Thomas Muraguri was told in his chambers.
The girl said she was ordered not to reveal what had happened.
“Afterwards he took me to a maize plantation and gave me Sh100. He told me not to tell anyone what had transpired. I did not go home that day,” said the child.
Mr Mukelemo was arrested two days later at Sigalagala shopping centre, where he had allegedly gone to buy the minor some sweets.
Her nine-year-old sister said her sibling was found two days later in the company of the accused.
Followed closely
“I was with my sister when the accused passed where we were and requested her to go with him to his house. I followed closely but when they entered the house, I waited for her outside but she stayed for a long time,” said the Standard One pupil.
The victim said she did not scream since the assailant was their neighbour and she did not anticipate anything bad would happen. She told the court her family started looking for her sister after the incident.
Mukelemo has been charged with defilement and committing indecent acts with the minor at their Mulundu village in Kakamega East. The matter was adjourned to tomorrow when a doctor is expected to testify.
Elsewhere, a 20-year-old woman will spend the next 18 months behind bars after she pleaded guilty to neglecting her son when he was two months old.
The woman admitted to abandoning her child in a ward at Kakamega General Hospital on April 8.
She is said to have gone on a drinking spree, leaving the child under the care of hospital staff, who did not know her whereabouts for three days.
According to State prosecutor Jebichii Kibet, the infant's father is said to have disagreed with his spouse.
“The couple had been having numerous misunderstandings due to the accused's drinking habits. On the material day, she took her child, went to the county hospital and left him there. The father learnt three days later that his son was left at the hospital unattended,” said Ms Kibet.
She added that the child, who was born in February, had since been under his grandmother's care. The woman was arrested on July 2 after she went to pick the child from her mother-in-law.
While handing down the sentence, Resident Magistrate Josephine Maragia said probation officers had established that she should not serve a non-custodial sentence.
