- Her parents told the court that their daughter was grabbed by the man when they sent her to a local market.
- But the man’s freedom came in his frank detailing of the relationship with CC at the High court, undermining the claims of her abduction.
Image: FILE
A man who was convicted for eloping with a 15-year-old girl has walked to freedom, escaping 20 years in jail.
Edward Amdany Kiplagat was 19 years old in 2017 when he cohabited with CC, 15 at the time, for three months in Nakuru.
But court papers show that the man was thrown under the bus by the minor when her parents started frantically searching for her. That was when she claimed that she was being held against her will and that their sex was not consensual.
Her parents told the court that their daughter was grabbed by the man when they sent her to a local market, carried her on a motorbike to a big house with many rooms where Kiplagat and another friend defiled her in turns.
She also claimed that he was with them for six days in which sex happened every night.
Penetration was proved by a broken hymen and Kiplagat’s admission. The magistrate’s court sentenced him to 20 years in jail in 2019.
But the man’s freedom came in his frank detailing of the relationship with CC at the High court, undermining the claims of her abduction and being forced to stay with the man.
He said that though he had a relationship with CC, it was her who kept insisting that she wanted them married and that she had finished schooling.
She also behaved as an adult, he testified, saying that the conduct left no doubts on him about the age of the complainant.
He however sent her away at some point due to her tempers, he claimed.
The High Court, however, found that the man’s conviction was proven because he had admitted to sex with a minor, even though it was consensual.
The judge, however, found that there were yawning gaps in the evidence and the testimony of the complainant, holding that claims of a relationship between the two were not farfetched.
“From the evidence on record it is clear that the complainant and the appellant were known to each other. It is doubtful that the appellant and the friend would have forcefully lifted the complainant and placed her on the motorbike in the market and no one would have noticed. So, I found that bit of evidence to be a bit exaggerated.
"The complainant somehow ended up in the appellant’s house where the appellant admits to have lived with her for three months, not six days as alleged by the complainant. Taking into consideration the testimony of the complainant’s father and the appellant’s defence there appears to be more to this case than meets the eye,” judge Teresia Matheka said.
The probation and after care report that precedes sentencing also spoke positively of the man, saying that he was cooperative with the correction services in jail and that the victim’s family was amenable to his freedom.
The court also says that youthful sexual offenders with close ages to the supposed victims and in a love relationship should be subjected to guidance and counselling as opposed to being locked up.
“Youthful offenders even in sexual related offences where the facts demonstrate that no violence, force, deception was used, and the age difference is not too wide to amount to undue influence or pressure, or use of power over the victim, both the victim and the perpetrator ought to be considered for correction, guidance and counseling,” she said.
The judge ordered Kiplagat freed and put on a probation for three years.