ZIMBA NGUWA MUPE V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

1. Zimba Nguwa Mupe, the appellant, was convicted by the Magistrate’s Court, Malindi on two counts of the offence of defilement and on a third count of sexual assault in a judgment delivered on 24^th November 2014. The victims of the offences were three sisters, MKK (PW1), LSK (PW3) and LAK (PW4) aged 17, 15 and 12 years respectively who, at the material time, were under the care of the appellant, their grandfather. He was sentenced to serve consecutive imprisonment terms of 25 years, 30 years and 30 years on each of the three counts respectively. His appeal to the High Court against conviction was dismissed in a judgment delivered on 13^th February 2017 but that court reduced the sentences to 15 years, 20 years and 10 years respectively and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

2. The facts are that the appellant’s home was in close proximity to the school attended by the three children. For purposes of convenience, and to avoid the children travelling a long d…