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NAIROBI: Sexual relationship between a man and his step-daughter is incest, the High Court has ruled.
High Court judge Said Chitembwe gave the verdict in a case where a man was challenging a life imprisonment by the Magistrates' Court for having sex with his teenage step-daughter.
Justice Chitembwe said that although the law is silent on the term step-daughter, it is perceived to be under the term daughter.
The judge ruled that the man, identified by the pseudo-name RMN, was wrong to have sex with his wife and at the same time prey on his half-daughter on account that they were unrelated.
The girl told the court that the man took care of her just like his wife but bought her silence by threatening kill her if she revealed what was happening. She said that she knew him as a father.
"Although section 20 of the Sexual Offences Act does not include the term step-daughter in relation to the offence of incest, it is logical that the appellant could not have had sex with the mother and also have sex with her. A step-daughter comes within the definition of a daughter under section 20 (i) of the Sexual Offences Act. Any sexual relationship between the appellant and prosecution witness would fall within the ambit of incest," the judge ruled.
Recently another judge ruled that it is not unlawful for cousins to engage in sex or even marry in Kenya.
Justice Makau Makau pointed out that the National Assembly did not leave out that some in some cultures such as Hindus and Muslims and among some African communities, sexual acts between cousins are not criminalised.
"My understanding of the said section (Section 20 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act) is that if any sexual act takes place between two cousins, that does not amount to incest within the meaning of the provisions of the Sexual Offences Act," he said.
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