A court has acquitted a man who was accused of defiling a minor leading to a pregnancy that lasted 11 months. The alleged act occurred three years ago at Emakhwale Village in Mumias East Sub-County in Kakamega.
DNA tests done on the accused Rashid Akhulunya Wasabo and the child of his alleged victim revealed that there was 99.99 percent chance that he sired the minor.
Court records indicated that Wasabo’s alleged victim, 17, was defiled on November 17, 2018 and she gave birth on October 1, 2019, eleven months later.
Mumias Chief Magistrate Teresia Odera said according to science, a pregnancy last 9 months.
“Although the DNA report implicates the accused-indicating he is the biological father of the minor’s child, it is trite law that expert reports are opinions which the courts must evaluate, and evidence supporting them produced,” said Odera.
She said the report that the minor was defiled on November 25, 2018 and she gave birth eleven months later does not add up, given a human being’s gestation period lasts nine months.
The magistrate however said the Prosecution satisfactorily proved that the alleged victim was a minor when the accused, who was in mid-thirties, allegedly defiled her.
“On identification of the accused, the minor said Wasabo had sexual intercourse with her. She consequently, conceived and gave birth to a child two months past the gestation period, which the defense took issue with..and the court also takes judicial notice of,” said the magistrate.
Wasibo had argued that the dates on which the girl conceived and when she gave birth were conflicting. According to him, a human being’s pregnancy lasts 280 days, while that of the alleged victim lasted 310 days.
He further argued that the alleged victim was born on July 30, 2001, and had already turned 18 years old by July 2019.
He further added through his lawyer that besides the baby born out of the alleged sexual offense being a girl, it was not a boy as indicated by the Prosecution and the investigating officer.
While testifying, government chemist Dalmas Kibet Kipsang said DNA test results indicated that the alleged victim and Wasabo were the minor’s biological parents.
The victim’s mother also testified in court, said she discovered her daughter was pregnant seven months after the said defilement.
The mother said she took her to St. Mary’s Hospital in Mumias where a pregnancy test was conducted and it turned out positive. She then reported the matter to police and Nyumba Kumi Initiative officials.
It is reported that Corporal Maurice Otieno was investigating the alleged defilement but he died before concluding the matter. Police Constable Line Mbalaka took over the investigation.