The Court of Appeal has upheld a life sentence imposed on a police imposter James Gitau who raped and violently robbed two women Sh136 at Mashambani village within Kiambu county in 2011.
Gitau wanted the court to review the sentence but the same was declined.
Appellate Judges Agnes Murgor, Sankale Ole Kantai and Mwaniki Gachoka restrained themselves from interfering with the discretion of the trial judge, saying the verdict was commensurate with the charges leveled against him.
The judges said they were satisfied that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In the incident that happened at 2 am on July 18, 2011, the victims—lady AZ and ZK had just left a birthday party when they realised two men were trailing them.
They said Gitau and his accomplice appeared from the bushes and started speaking to them in a commanding tone, calling each other sergeant and corporal.
Gitau asked the ladies why they were drunk and ordered them to sit down and they took their phones and money.
AZ and ZK were then ordered to stand and were led to a bush where Gitau and his accomplice raped them and when they tried to resist they were scared with a panga.
After raping them, they asked, “Do you have electronics in the house?” In a bid to trap Gitau, AZ responded in the affirmative.
She instead took them to her sister’s house and on reaching there she screamed for help as the other ZK snatched the panga from Gitau and a torch from the other man and threw them away.
The other man managed to run away but Gitau was nabbed before he could escape and was taken to Karuri police station.
A clinical officer who examined AZ on July 19 confirmed that she was indeed sexually assaulted.
Gitau was subsequently charged before a Kiambu court. He faced three counts.
The first count was robbery with violence. He was accused of violently robbing AZ Sh100 and raping her. He also violently robbed her cousin-ZK Sh36.
When put on his defense, Gitau denied committing the offence and claimed AZ was his lover and that morning he had called her at noon and they made love.
They later left the house at 10.00 pm for a birthday party she had been invited to. They stayed there until 11.00 pm and later went to Mugumoini bar, where they stayed up to 1.00 am.
They then decided to go to her house, which was nearer, where they found her sister and her child.
At about 2.30 am he heard a knock on the door and AZ told her that it sounded like her husband’s sister.
AZ opened the door, the man entered, picked a bottle and hit him. Neighbors then heard the commotion and came to see what was happening. According to Gitau, they all colluded to have him charged of rape and the
The trial magistrate in convicting Gitau found the ingredients of the offence to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt. He was sentenced to life.
Aggrieved, he appealed. He faulted the court for failing to consider that he lacked legal representation hence he suffered an injustice, failing to accord him a fair hearing considering the rule against self-incrimination.
The appellate judges were also satisfied that the conviction on the offence of rape was safe and based on cogent and credible evidence.
They also said Gitau was given enough time and facility to prepare his defence and he was also not in any way hindered or prevented from enjoying the right to be represented by an advocate.