{"id":116945,"date":"2025-06-22T09:03:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T09:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/06\/22\/appeal-court-upholds-20-year-defilement-sentence-citing-binding-minimums\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T09:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T09:03:21","slug":"appeal-court-upholds-20-year-defilement-sentence-citing-binding-minimums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/appeal-court-upholds-20-year-defilement-sentence-citing-binding-minimums\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeal Court upholds 20-year defilement sentence citing binding minimums"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 \u2014 The Court of Appeal has declined a bid to review a 20-year sentence handed to a defilement convict in 2016 citing mandatory provisions. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sitting in Nakuru on Friday, Justices John Mativo, Mumbi Gachoka, and Weldon Korir affirmed the sentence handed to Naftary Ng\u2019ang\u2019a Ndung\u2019u for defilement, affirming that the term imposed under Section 8(3) of the Sexual Offences Act is lawful and mandatory.<\/p>\n

The bench unanimously dismissed Ndung\u2019u\u2019s appeal, which only challenged the severity of the sentence. <\/p>\n

A Senior Resident Magistrate at Engineer Court convicted Ndung\u2019u in 2016 defiling a 12-year-old girl. <\/p>\n

The High Court upheld his sentence in 2019, prompting the appeal to the higher court.<\/p>\n

In their ruling, the judges noted that the law prescribes a minimum of 20 years for such offences and that courts have no discretion to reduce the sentence below that threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe words \u2018not less than\u2019 must [be] given their natural and obvious meaning,\u201d the judges stated. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the case of Section 8(3) of the Sexual Offences Act, these words must [be] understood to mean the offence is punishable with a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Binding minimums<\/h2>\n

Citing the Supreme Court decision in Republic v Joshua Gichuki Mwangi (2024), the bench reinforced that minimum sentences set by law are binding and not unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Ndung\u2019u, who had abandoned his appeal against the conviction, argued for a reduced sentence based on his remorse, rehabilitation, and family responsibilities.<\/p>\n

He also asked the court to factor in time spent in custody under Section 333(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.<\/p>\n

However, the court ruled out the entitlement, citing inconsistencies in the record and the fact that he once absconded court while free on bail.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving jumped bail, only to be re-arrested and brought back to court, the appellant cannot benefit from the provisions of Section 333(2) nor can he benefit from this Court\u2019s discretion,\u201d the judges ruled.<\/p>\n

The bench dismissed the appeal in its entirety, with the court upholding the sentence as lawful and proportionate given the circumstances of the case.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 \u2014 The Court of Appeal has declined a bid to review a 20-year sentence handed to a defilement convict in 2016 citing mandatory provisions. Sitting in Nakuru on Friday, Justices John Mativo, Mumbi Gachoka, and Weldon Korir affirmed the sentence handed to Naftary Ng\u2019ang\u2019a Ndung\u2019u for defilement, affirming that the term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}