RAPISTS TO SERVE 25 YEARS AS COURT REJECTS APPEAL.

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BY SAM ALFAN.

A man who was sentenced to 25 years for gang raping a woman in Kirinyaga almost decade ago will continue serving his jail term after the Court of Appeal dismissed his case.

A bench of three judges dismissed the appeal James Kinyua Muthike saying it lacked merit. His co-convict- Hillary Ndungutho Mwai had initially appealed the conviction and sentence but pulled out last year.

Muthike proceeded but Justices William Ouko, Daniel Musinga and Jamila Mohammed said, “Did the High Court err in confirming the sentence issued by the trial court? The answer to this question lies with the circumstances of the case, as we have explained earlier. Those circumstances support the conclusion the learned Judge reached in confirming the sentence. In the result, we too find that this appeal is bereft of any merit and accordingly dismiss it in its entirety.”

The Judges noted that Muthike expressed remorse saying he has since changed to lead a constructive life. He also claimed he was the sole breadwinner of his family.

The court heard that the two rapists broke into the house on May 7, 2010 and dragged a woman to shamba and gran-raped her in turns.

Incidentally, the victim was a sister in-law of Mwai. His father and brother were awoken by distress cries of the woman’s children. The woman said he recognized the duo. Mwai was generally known as Besty.

His father reprimanded Mwai only for him to return shortly to harass the woman and her children again, forcing them to spend the rest of the night in her father’s in-law’s house. Mwai was found asleep the next morning in her bed and the matter was reported to the police, leading to their arrest.

While opposing the appeal, prosecutor Duncan Ondimu pleaded with the court to uphold the sentence arguing that the main objective of sentencing is to protect innocent citizens and prevent crime. He said any punishment imposed by the court should aim at promoting those objectives.

But the Judges dismissed the appeal saying taking into account the manner in which the offence was committed; the two young men raping their victim in turns, who to their knowledge was a married woman and the trauma to which she and her children were exposed to and their harassment the whole night, the rapists did not deserve mercy.

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