A Kenyan policeman was on Friday sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of raping a woman who had sought help from the law enforcers.
State-affiliated Kenya Broadcasting Corporation reports that the officer, Rodgers Ouma, 32, lured the said woman to his place in the pretext of offering shelter while in was raining, then he forced himself on her.
The woman had sought police help after her husband forced her to take abortion pills to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
“For the aggravated rape, the court sentences him to life imprisonment to protect the complainant from the promised threat and to act as a deterrent to other like-minded persons. On count two, the court sentences Ouma to 10 years’ imprisonment, which is concurrent with the life imprisonment,” said Lamu Principal Magistrate Allan Temba in his ruling.
According to a Kenya National Bureau of Statistics study from 2014, 14% of Kenyan women have experienced sexual violence.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in December 2019 pledged his government’s full support for the quest to end gender violence, sexual violence and child marriage.
Kenyatta said he believed the country was on course to eliminating the vices by 2030.
“I really do believe the reason so many of us have convened in Nairobi is that we recognise that advancing people’s rights, in particular, women’s rights, their choices and their well-being, is the path to prosperous and resilient societies,” President Kenyatta said during the International Conference on Population and Development held in Nairobi.
