A policeman who raped a woman who had sought help at the Lamu Police Station eight months ago has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
On Wednesday this week, the Lamu Law Courts found Police Constable Rodgers Ouma, 32, guilty of the offence he committed in his house at Lamu Police Lines in Langoni on December 8, 2019.
Lamu Principal Magistrate Allan Temba also found Ouma guilty of abuse of his position of authority as a police officer.
The court heard that the victim had visited the police station at 8pm on the fateful night to report that her husband was forcing her to take abortion pills to terminate an unplanned pregnancy.
After recording her complaint, Ouma promised to help her.
As she was about to leave the police station, there was a heavy downpour and Ouma asked her to take cover in his house.
When she was in his house, the convict locked the door, grabbed her phone and tuned it off.
He forced himself on her and threatened to kill her using a knife.
The victim managed to escape and spent the night in a neighbour’s house.
She could not go back to her house because she left her keys and mobile phone in Ouma’s house.
The following morning, she reported the matter to Lamu OCS.
Investigators recovered the victim’s belongings from Ouma’s house and arrested him promptly.
A medical examination showed that the woman had indeed been raped.
The court had set today (Friday) as the sentence delivery day, after the filing of the Victim Impact Statement by the complainant.
While sentencing the officer, Mr Temba said the complainant, in her victim impact statement given on oath, informed the court that the convict had relayed new threats to her that should he be released from custody he will ensure that he eliminates her.
The complainant added that shortly after receiving the threats from the convict relayed through another police officer, some policemen who are colleagues of the convict started trailing her.
Mr Temba said taking into account his lack of remorse, the use of threats and the new intimidation tactics, the court declared the offender a dangerous sex convict under Section 39(1)(b) of the Sexual Offences Act.
“For the aggravated rape, the court sentences him to life imprisonment to protect the complainant from the promised threat and to act as a deterrent to other like-minded persons. In count 2, the court sentences Ouma to 10 years imprisonment which is concurrent to the life imprisonment,” said Mr Temba.
The court also ruled that the complainant be compensated with Sh400,000 as general damages for soft tissue injuries, mental anguish and torture as stipulated under section 175(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The complainant shall recover the award in the normal civil recovery process.
The convict has the right to appeal within 14 days.
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