Magistrate shortage stalls justice for girl defiled by uncle
Nyanza
By
James Omoro
| Jun 16, 2025
(L) Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei, nominated Senator Catherine Muma and Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo address journalists at Mbita Law Court. June 14, 2025. [James Omoro, Standard]
The Senate has termed the lack of enough magistrates and case backlog as the main obstacle delaying justice for a nine-year-old girl who was impregnated by her paternal uncle in Homa Bay County four years ago.
This was revealed by the Senatorial Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee during a fact-finding mission in Mbita Law Court, Mbita Sub-County.
The fact-finding mission resulted from a whistleblower’s information that the case was dragging and the girl’s parents were being intimidated to subvert justice.
According to nominated Senator Catherine Muma, who received the complaint from the whistleblower, the girl was defiled by her paternal uncle at Kigoto village in Suba South Sub-County in 2021.
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After the defilement, the suspect was arrested and arraigned in Mbita Law Court.
But the challenge has been that the case has not been concluded since 2021 to date.
(L) Nominated Senator Catherine Muma, Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei and Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo address journalists at Mbita Law Court. [James Omoro, Standard]
Muma said she had to present the matter before the Senate for the committee to find out the truth in the whistleblower’s information.
“I received the information from an anonymous whistleblower. Since the whistle-blower did not reveal their identity, we decided to visit this court to find out the authenticity of the information,” Muma said.
She said they spoke to all stakeholders involved in the case and discovered that the information given by the whistleblower was true.
“We have spoken to the girl’s parents, the judicial officials, and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and discovered that the whistle-blower gave accurate information,” Muma said.
Muma said the situation was so dire that it needed close attention by putting systemic measures by both the National Government and the county government of Homa Bay on how to prevent similar cases in the future.
The committee chairman, Hillary Sigei, said their findings revealed that the case had been delayed by systemic issues in the Judiciary, key among them being the shortage of magistrates.
“This is a court with one magistrate, yet the cases are too many to be handled by the magistrate in time. There are also other courts with similar challenges, hence we are going to make recommendations for addressing them,” Sigei said.
Sigei, who was also accompanied by Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo, said they had established that the matter was still active in the court. d
He said the girl had delivered successfully and is currently in a safe space.
“We have established that the girl, who is now 13 years old she is being accommodated in a safe space as the case continues. Our recommendations will salvage the obstacles which impede justice.” Sigei said.