Joseph Odongo Ogendo, a middle aged man has been sentenced to serve a 20-year imprisonment term in jail for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.
He was convicted by Homa Bay senior resident magistrate Lester Simiyu who found him guilty of defiling the girl on July 22, 2017 at Shauri Yako estate in Homa Bay sub-county.
The accused person also faced an alternative charge of touching the private parts of the minor on the material date in violation of the Sexual Offences Act.
In mitigation, the accused person pleaded for pardon and asked for leniency saying he had a family to take care of.
The magistrate however said after listening to witnesses who testified in the case, he concluded the accused person committed the heinous act and deserves a deterrent sentence.
He was given 14 days right of appeal.
Meanwhile, a senior Taita Taveta County official was on Wednesday arraigned in a Voi court for allegedly attempting to rape an 11-year-old girl.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ellen Nderitu, the accused; Eric Ochieng, who is a principal administrator at the county government, was accused of attempting to rape the girl at his house in Voi town on March 9, 2019.
The court was told that Ochieng’ lured the girl into his house where he allegedly showed her his manhood.
He denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of Ksh.200,000 or Ksh.500,000 with a surety of a similar amount.
The case was set for mention on April 17, 2019 with the hearing due on May 5, 2019.