A 50-year-old man from Ainamoi Constituency, Kericho County, was on Thursday, 07 July 2022, sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment by the Kericho law court, after being found guilty of attempted rape and indecent assault to a 31-year-old mentally disabled woman, who was confined in a wheelchair.
Ernest Langat, was charged that in November 2020, at Ainamoi Constituency, he unlawfully and willfully attempted to rape and indecently assaulted the 31-year-old mentally disabled woman, contrary to section 4 of the Sexual Offences Act number 3 of 2006, which state: “4. Any person who attempts to unlawfully and intentionally commit an act which causes penetration with his or her genital organs is guilty of the offence of attempted rape and is liable upon conviction for imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may be enhanced to imprisonment for life”, and section 11 (1) of the Sexual Offences Act number 3 of 2006, which states: “11. (1) Any person who commits an indecent act with a child is guilty of the offence of committing an indecent act with a child and is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years”.
The case was reported to Kericho Law Court 4 on 05 November 2020, under number E.022/20, and the charges were read to Langat before Kericho Senior Resident Magistrate Hon. Fredrick Nyakundi. In his judgement, the magistrate said the prosecution led by Ms Caroline Kiptum, lined five witnesses who testified and Hon. Nyakundi found the accused guilty of two counts of attempted rape and indecent assault, and subsequently went ahead to sentence him to fifteen years imprisonment on the first count, and fifteen years imprisonment on the second count, and ordered both sentences to run concurrently.
Finally justice was served to the victim..kudos to the court and Odpp for the good work in arriving at the conviction so that it’s a lesson to members of the public with same behavior.
You are absolutely correct Joseph. This is the kind of speedy justice system that our judiciary should continue embracing in order to ensure victims are protected and their justice is rightly and timely served.