A Migori man who held a girl captive for six weeks, tied her with ropes and defiled her repeatedly will serve the rest of his 15-year jail sentence after he lost an appeal.
A magistrate’s court established that George Obworo had repeatedly defiled the girl, who was 16 at the time, in a village in Migori on March 27, 2011. The magistrate committed him to 15 years imprisonment.
Obworo lost an appeal at the High Court in 2014 and thereafter moved to the appellate court.
On August 7, justices Wanjiru Karanja, Fatuma Sichale and Patrick Kiage dismissed the appeal, saying Obworo took advantage of an innocent girl.
“The manner in which PW1 (complainant) was treated by the appellant, based on the findings of fact by both courts below as urged by the state was indisputably aggravating,” they ruled.
They noted that the convict in mitigation told the trial court that he was his family’s sole bread winner. The age of the complainant was proved to be below 18 years.
The girl’s evidence on how Obworo defiled her was corroborated by medical examination.
“She had bruises on the right side of her face and rope marks on both her hands and legs. It was reported that in her genital areas, tests revealed pus cells indicating an infection with a sexually transmitted disease,” the court heard.
In her testimony, the girl told the court that her neighbour, a woman invited her over to another neighbour’s home where she met Obworo.
He was in the company of four others including the homeowner on March 27, 2011.
The six individuals convinced her to accompany the convict to his home in Nyatike area to see his home. They assured her that she would return to her home the following day.
On arrival, however, she slept in Obworo’s house where he forcefully had sexual intercourse with her.
Informing him that she wished to return to her home the next day, he declined and instead bound her hands and legs with rope to restrain her.
“She was held captive for a period of six weeks during which she remained bound and was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the appellant. It was only after she agreed to be his wife that he untied her,” the court heard.
On May 6, 2011 the girl escaped and returned to her home when Obworo gave her some money to buy food while he and his wife were off to the shamba.
Two days later, her father who had previously made reports on her disappearance to the school took her to the chief’s office who referred them to Migori Police Station leading to Obworo’s arrest.
In court, Obworo denied committing the offence, saying that he had been framed and that he did not know the girl.