A 30-year-old man who was found guilty of defiling a minor during a visit to her family has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Kericho court.
Kericho Principal Magistrate Japheth Bii found Vincent Kimutai Koech guilty of defiling an eight-year-old girl in her home on December 24, 2025, at Nyallibush village in the Sigowet Sub-County of Kericho County.
Koech was also charged with an alternative charge of committing an indecent act with the girl to which he pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution produced five witnesses, all of whom gave corroborating evidence against the accused.
The court heard that the accused, a family friend, visited the home on December 22. On December 24, the minor’s father left, leaving his wife, the accused and the children at home. The mother later went to Sondu Market in the company of the minor’s grandmother, leaving the accused alone with the minor and her younger siblings.
At around 10am, the accused asked the minor to fetch water to dampen the floor he was cleaning. When she returned with the water, he pinned her down on a sofa, where he defiled her.
When the minor’s mother and grandmother returned from Sondu market, the minor failed to report the incident. On December 25, the accused left the minor’s home early in the morning.
It was on December 27 that the girl’s mother noticed that her daughter had difficulty walking. Upon questioning her, the girl disclosed that the accused had defiled her.
The mother informed her husband before reporting the matter to the village elder and area chief.
The complainant was taken to Sigowet sub-county hospital for medical examination, where she was treated and the matter was reported to the police. The accused was arrested on December 27, 2025.
A medical doctor who examined the minor told the court that indeed she had been defiled and tabled a P3 form and laboratory reports before the court, further confirming the defilement charge. In his defence, the accused gave an unsworn statement.
Koech denied committing the offence, telling the court that he visited the minor’s home on December 22 and stayed there until December 25. He said he was arrested on December 27 but did not know why he was being arrested.
The accused offered no mitigation before the court, but the Principal Magistrate found him guilty and ordered that he serve life imprisonment.
“I have considered the case against the accused person. I have carefully evaluated the evidence as adduced by the prosecution. I have equally considered the defence put up by the accused. The P3 form in respect to the minor indicates that there were injuries on the labia minora and majora. The hymen was freshly torn. There was whitish discharge from the internal genitalia. The P3 form concludes penetration took place. The court finds there was penetration. The defence by the accused person, as I so find, amounts to just denial of the commission of the offence. The defence, pitted against the evidence adduced for the prosecution case, fails,” Bii ruled.
The accused person is found guilty as charged in the principal charge. The accused is consequently convicted under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedural Code (Cap 75) laws of Kenya,” ruled the magistrate.
The convict was given the right to appeal the sentence within 14 days.
By Sarah Njagi
