NAIROBI, Kenya – The Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of Augustine Mwendwa Pascal, who was found guilty of defiling an eight-year-old girl in Mbooni West District, Makueni County.
A three-judge bench of Justices P. O. Kiage, W. Korir, and Joel Ngugi dismissed Mwendwa’s appeal in its entirety, ruling that both the trial and appellate courts properly evaluated the evidence presented.
Mwendwa, convicted under Section 8(1) as read with Section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act, had argued that the evidence was inconsistent and that the charge sheet was defective.
However, the judges ruled that the minor wording error was curable under Section 382 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The court affirmed the findings of five prosecution witnesses, including a doctor who confirmed medical evidence of penetration, and upheld the credibility of the child’s testimony.
Citing precedents from Japheth Mwambire Mbitha v Republic [2019] and Mwalango Chichoro Mwanjembe v Republic [2016], the bench ruled that the voir dire examination was properly administered and the victim’s age duly verified.
The judges also rejected Mwendwa’s plea for sentence reduction, referencing the Supreme Court decision in Republic v Mwangi (2024), which bars courts from varying mandatory sentences prescribed under the Sexual Offences Act.
They held that Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows courts to consider time served, does not apply to life imprisonment since it is an indeterminate sentence.
In their ruling, the judges concluded that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and upheld the lower courts’ findings, reaffirming Kenya’s zero-tolerance stance toward sexual offences involving minors.
