Man handed life sentence, son in court for defiling minor

A 52-year-old man who pleaded guilty to defiling and impregnating a Class Seven pupil has been jailed for life. 

Kakamega Senior Resident Magistrate Noileen Akee sentenced Silas Lumiti on Friday after confessing to having committed the offence.

State prosecutor Melisa Lukulu had told the court that Lumiti had messed up the life of the minor and that only a punitive sentence would help the complainant tot heal.

“This court, having considered the plight of the minor and the reports made available to us, the accused admitting that he defiled the minor without thinking of the repercussions, has convicted him on his own plea of guilty and handed a life sentence,” said Akee.

As the suspect was being handed the sentence, his son Dennis Shivaka (19) who is also accusing of defiling the same minor, was being presented to the court for the mention of his case.

Shivaka pleaded not guilty to defiling the minor who court documents only referred to as JE.

On a second count, the second accused was charged with defilement and was granted a bond of Sh250,000.

Ashivaka is alleged to have forced the minor into a sexual relationship by the time his father was also defiling her.

Collapsed in court

During plea taking, there was a moment of drama after proceedings were interrupted when the first accused’s wife collapsed after listening to his confession.

She could not also stand the pain when her husband confessed that he would on numerous occasions abuse the girl when the wife had gone for night prayers popularly known as "keshas".

He had owned up after a DNA test that was by a government in Kisumu by government chemist Polycarp Lutta identified him as the father of the complainant’s four-month-old son.

The court heard that in 2016, the 13-year-old girl, JE, went to live with her grandmother in Ileo, Shinyalu Constituency, where she would be enrolled in school.

 JE’s father, who has since died, struggled to fend for his daughter after he separated from his wife.

The accused is reported to have threatened to discontinue the minor’s education and kill her if she declined his advances.

The court heard that for more than two years, the accused subjected the girl to sexual abuse.

The complainant later realised she was pregnant and informed her grandmother.

To avoid the shame and disgrace the scandal would bring her family, the grandmother is said to have compelled the girl to link the pregnancy to someone else.

It did not take long before JE was taken back to her parent’s home.

On August 28, JE gave birth to a baby boy.

The evidence adduced in court showed that his father's health deteriorated leading to his death in December after the minor told him what happened.

During her father’s burial, villagers threatened to lynch the suspects after the girl told them what transpired during her stay at her grandmother’s home.

Police from Shinyalu later took up the matter and arrested the suspects.

In mitigation, Lumiti asked for leniency claiming it was the devil who misled him and that he was remorseful.