A 45-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of defiling a 10-year-old boy in Lamu County.

The accused, Mselem Issa Mohamed, who was a boda boda rider at Hindi location within Lamu Central Sub-county at the time of the incident in 2024, was convicted of defilement on Wednesday.

According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), the accused was found to have sodomised the minor on December 14, 2024, at around 1500hrs in the Kibokonl area contrary to Section 8 (1) as read with Section 8 (2) of the Sexual Offences Act no 3 of 2006.

“The particulars of the charges are that on 14 December 2024, at around 1500 hrs in the Kibokonl area of the Hindi location within Lamu Central sub-county in Lamu County, he defiled the minor intentionally and unlawfully,” stated ODPP.

The court heard that the accused, on the fateful day at about 3 pm, Mselem ferried the minor using his motorbike and lured him into nearby bushes before defiling him.

He is also said to have threatened the minor not to speak about the incident, after which he fled the scene.

The DPP says that two days later, the child reported the matter to a trusted individual who, in turn, informed the parents, who went to report the incident at Hindi Police Station.

“The victim was taken to Hindi Magogoni Dispensary for a medical examination and treated, where he was found to have been defiled. National Police Reservists arrested the accused almost four days after he had gone into hiding,” DPP stated.

“He was taken to the Hindi police station and positively identified by the victim despite denying having committed the offence. Police further recovered a motorcycle he had used to ferry the minor to the thicket and commit the heinous act.”

During the hearing, the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt by presenting four witnesses.

In his defence, however, the accused alleged a grudge between his family and that of the victim, and in mitigation, stated that he is the sole breadwinner of his family, pleading with the court to be lenient.

The judge dismissed the accused's defence as “inconsistent and unable to shackle himself from the atrocity against the minor”, underscoring that the minor suffered lifetime emotional and psychological trauma due to the heinous act perpetrated by the accused.

DPP says the court considered judicial notice of rising cases of sexual offence and that the sentence will serve as a deterrent to others.