How sex-pest of a tutor lured disabled student, impregnated her

Silhouette of a pregnant woman [Courtesy]

To the student, the teacher was a father figure who would never hurt her.But the court described Tom Ochako as a predator, who took advantage of the student’s physical disability to impregnate and abandon her.

The court described how the former tutor at the Moi Teachers College, Baringo, took the student to a hotel room in Kabarnet, where he sexually assaulted her.

The student narrated to the court how the teacher lured her with a promise to help her undergo plastic surgery.

Court records indicate that the student had her right hand amputated, her left hand has only the thumb and the face is disfigured.

The teacher, she said, claimed a doctor friend would help her. He even persuaded her parents to let her undergo the surgery.

First, she was taken to a doctor in Nakuru where she was examined. On that day, Ochako booked a hotel room where they spent the night in separate beds.

The student was later advised to travel to Eldoret to see another doctor on October 27, 2010. He paid for her fare and was to join her later.

But the teacher called to say that she should look for accommodation in Kabarnet. On this night, Ochako insisted in coming into her room, claiming he wanted to charge his mobile phone.

Although she had resisted opening the door, she later did. But the man insisted that he would spend the night there.

The student told the court that the teacher had sex with her, and when the morning came, he claimed he did not have the money for the plastic surgery.

And when she later found out that she was pregnant, the student fled their home in shame.

She later lodged her complaint with the college’s board, leading to his interdiction by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

In his judgment last week, Justice James Rika noted the tutor had tested the student’s trust in Nakuru.

“He did not see anything morally wrong in this. He was preparing himself to take her away from the plain sight of Nakuru, to the backstreets of Kabarnet, away from the vicinity of his college,” he said.

The court said the man played with the student’s trust by organising a teachers’ home visit, where he introduced himself to unsuspecting parents.

Physical imperfections

“He lied all the time that he was going to assist her remedy her physical imperfections. He would take her to a doctor who was his friend. He took her from Nakuru to Eldoret and fatefully to Kabarnet where he deflowered her,” read the judgment.

“He used his position as her teacher, posing as a father-figure as well, and ravaged her, leaving her psychologically wrecked, and with an unsupported child. He compounded her physical impairment.”

Ochako had sued TSC in December 2016 at the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi.

Rika, however, said the court was satisfied TSC acted in accordance with its constitutional and statutory mandate interdicting Ochako.

In the suit, he sought to be reinstated and paid the outstanding salary.