50-year-old man convicted for marrying 9-year-old girl in Narok
A Narok court has convicted a fifty-year-old man on his own guilty plea for marrying off a nine-year-old girl in the year 2019 at Entasekera area in Narok South Sub County.
Saigulu Ololosereka who appeared before Narok Senior Resident Magistrate Phyllis Shinyanda told the court that he was given off the girl for marriage by the girl’s father Senteu Ole Mareu.
Narok Children’s officer Pilot Khaemba told the court that the marriage was unearthed after the minor, now 12 years old, developed complications during delivery and had to be rushed to the Narok County Referral Hospital for treatment.
The minor who was accompanied by her elderly husband to the hospital, the court heard, then underwent a cesarean section but unfortunately experienced a still birth.
An age assessment was carried out on the minor showed that she was only 12 years old.
Khayemba then prayed to the court to grant his office permission to commit the young girl, who is yet to be discharged from the hospital, to Taraja Children’s home in Machakos county, a prayer that was granted by the court.
Following the seriousness of the matter, the court clerk was asked to re-read the charges to the old man in the Maasai language that he best understood as she threw caution to him of the stern punishment that come with the committed offence.
Obliviously, Ololosereka reiterated that the charges were true and that the young girl was his wife whom he dearly protected.
The State counsel prosecutor told the court that the elderly man was a first offender but reiterated the seriousness of the offence he had committed which attracts a life imprisonment.
Shinyada convicted the old man on his own guilty plea and ordered him to remain in police custody until January 11, 2023 when the judgement will be passed.
The court also issued a warrant of arrest to the girl’s parents for allegedly subjecting the minor to an early marriage.