A woman who stunned a Kisumu Court earlier this month after confessing to a steamy love affair with a minor has been found guilty.
Judith Wandera, 24, was on Wednesday sentenced to 15 years in jail. She was found guilty of defilement and intentionally performing an indecent act on a minor contrary to the Sexual Offences Act, on July 5, 2017, at Kicomi area.
The prosecution team presented seven witnesses who testified against her while Wandera, who was representing herself during the entire trial, presented none.
Principal Magistrate Ms Joan Wambilyanga, in her judgment, noted that the two knew each other and had sexual intercourse on numerous occasions.
She said the two were arrested on July 17, one year after they had started getting sexually involved.
“Both admitted to having sex, sometimes protected, sometimes unprotected. According to her, she could not tell how many times they did it,” said Ms Wambilyanga.
In her defence, Wandera claimed that she met her lover in a pub in April 2016 and couldn’t tell from his physique and dreadlocks that he was still in primary school.
This can in fact be used as a solid defence as provided by the Sexual Offences Act. However, in Wandera’s case, the court established that she made no efforts to establish whether the person she was dating was actually an adult.
The magistrate also dismissed Wandera’s argument that the boy was a bodaboda operator and was fond of abusing drugs. She claimed that the Standard 7 drop out appeared young only after shaving his dreadlocks recently.
“The boy had dreadlocks when we met, but after being taken to juvenile prison, and he has shaven, I was surprised to see how young he looked when he came to testify,” Wandera claimed.
Woman Tells Court She Didn’t Know Lover Was Class 7 Pupil Because of Dreadlocks
But the magistrate dismissed her argument saying that she should have shown what steps she took to establish the boy’s age.
“There was no evidence the complainant lied about his age and the accused’s defence was disregarded based on her failure to prove what steps she took to establish whether the boy was under age,” said Ms Wambilyanga.
In mitigation, the accused pleaded for forgiveness saying she has a son, a brother and her mother to take care of.
“I am the only person taking care of all of them. Please forgive me I will never repeat the offence again.”
Her pleas fell on deaf ears and she was handed a 15 year jail term.
This is what city lawyer Donald Kipkorir had to say about the ruling.
