Justice at last! Two brothers sentenced to 15 years in jail for gang-rape

Two brothers have been sentenced to 15 years each in jail by an Iten court after they were found guilty of gang raping a woman.

Iten resident magistrate Nelly Adalo found Mathew Kimwetich and Hillary Kipchumba guilty of gang-raping 25-year-old woman on May 17 2017 in Kimnai location, Marakwet West.

Kimwetich was found guilty of earlier raping the same woman while armed with a machete.

The woman, the court was told, reported the matter at Kapsowar police station and later sought treatment at the Kapsowar mission hospital.

The court heard that Kimwetich came back and called the complainant from a bar where she worked as an attendant but when she went out, she met him in the company of his brother Kipchumba.

Kimwetich then hit her with a wooden stick on the left arm and the two dragged her to her mother’s house where they threw her (mother) outside together with her younger brother before raping her in turns before she passed out.

The complainant told the court that she tried to scream to seek help but it was raining heavily and therefore no one came to her rescue.

She said she bled for four days after the ordeal and couldn’t seek treatment immediately because she had no money.

The court heard that the two accused had attempted to bribe the victim with Sh35,000 to drop the case.

“The charge of gang rape has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. Each of the accused has been found guilty as charged and is convicted accordingly under section 215 of the criminal penal code,” Adalo ruled.

The prosecutor Wanjiku Karanja urged the court to give the two accused the maximum sentence provided under the law despite there being no previous records due to the gravity of the offence.

Kimwetich pleaded for leniency saying their father died last year and that their younger brother is suffering from a heart condition, with no one to take care of.

Kipchumba said admitted he committed the offence and sought for forgiveness from the complainant adding that their mother was sick and needed their care.

The court further ruled that the time spent in remand shall be computed in the sentence. They have 14 days to appeal.

-The Star/STEPHEN RUTTO