Malindi Principal Magistrate Joy Shiundu has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the offence of incest.

Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) in a statement shared via social media on Monday, December 9, 2024, said that the man (name withheld to protect minors’ identities) was sentenced after he was found guilty of committing incest with his four blood relatives aged between 12 years and three years.

Shiundu ruled that the prosecution proved its case on the charges of incest contrary to section 20(1) of the Sexual Offences Act. No. 3 of 2006 against the accused person to the required standard of proof beyond any reasonable doubt.

The convict will now serve life imprisonment for each of the four counts.

“I find that the prosecution established the victims were related to the accused person and the accused person knows that he was related to the victims,” the magistrate ruled.

According to the ODPP, the convict committed incest with his four blood relatives on diverse dates between May 8, 2023, and June 30, 2023, with the offence having been committed in Malindi.

“The accused person committed incest (with his blood relatives) on diverse dates between 8th May 2023 and 30th June 2023. The offences were committed in Malindi Sub County, within Kilifi County,” the ODPP stated.

The accused person tried to defend himself by stating that he had been framed because of bad blood between him and the village elder, but the court dismissed his allegations.

He is also facing a separate case of incest, which will be the fifth.

“Further, the court dismissed allegations raised by the accused suggesting he was framed because of bad blood between him and the village elder. The accused person is separately facing a fifth case of incest. The case was prosecuted by Benjamin Wambua,” the ODPP stated.