By REUBEN OLITA
July 29, 2026| A Malaba court has sentenced a 49-year-old Angurai businessman to 30 years in prison for defiling a 13-year-old girl.
Senior Principal Magistrate Ocharo Momanyi found Moses Okono guilty of the offence, which occurred in 2023. The case was originally filed at Busia court before being transferred to Malaba law court, based in Amagoro, in 2025.
In his ruling, Momanyi said the prosecution called five witnesses, including a medical doctor who presented a medical report. Witnesses testified that Okono had enticed the minor with sweets and other gifts before subjecting her to sexual abuse. The court also heard that members of the public had attempted to attack his business premises following the allegations.
In mitigation, Okono told the court he was a family man with six children and cited poor health, asking for leniency.
Court cites case backlog and statistics
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Momanyi said Malaba law court has made progress in handling sexual offence cases, stating that the court convicts where guilt is established. He gave the following figures for cases handled over the past two and a half years: 69 in 2024, 60 in 2025, and 27 as of June 28, 2026.
His comments followed a television report the previous Sunday that accused Busia County courts of delaying justice for survivors of sexual offences, including through the transfer of magistrates and other means of stalling proceedings.
Responding to the criticism, Momanyi said many cases are complicated by the fact that suspects and survivors are often relatives or neighbours, which can make it harder to establish evidence due to family pressure to conceal the matter.
He also cited a case in which a 21-year-old boda boda rider had been in a relationship with a girl who was 17 and approaching 18; the girl gave birth to a child from the relationship. During the hearing, the man appeared in court carrying the baby, while the girl — who had become a hostile witness — sat beside him.
Momanyi said the man admitted to the offence but questioned what a conviction would achieve, noting the girl was now an adult and could make her own decisions. He called on Parliament to consider a more lenient framework, such as probation, for cases involving minors aged 17 to 18 in established relationships, rather than a conviction.
Momanyi added that sexual offences reflect broader social problems and urged the media to help educate the public on the risks and legal consequences involved. He said all future court proceedings would be documented in writing for accuracy, noting that misreporting — including by police officers — had previously caused confusion in some cases.
On separate matters, Momanyi said the court weighs personal circumstances carefully in cases involving illicit brewing, citing an instance where a woman with a four-day-old infant was acquitted after police confirmed her circumstances. He also referenced a case involving a chief and his wife that was resolved through mediation after the complainant withdrew the case.