Court upgrades 25-year jail term to life sentence for school driver who defiled six-year-old

For nearly seven years, Vincent Korir, a school driver, has never rested, moving from one court to another, challenging a court decision that sent him to jail for 25 years.

Korir’s appeal on conviction and sentence was dismissed, and the sentence of 25 years was set aside and substituted with a life sentence.

Korir had been sentenced to serve 25 years in jail by a Kericho Court for defiling a 6-year-old in a judgment delivered March 13, 2020.

He allegedly committed the offense on March 24, 2018, in Bureti Sub-County, Kericho County.

“The appellant understood the consequences of the warning and proceeded to prosecute his appeal. Having established that the appeal on conviction was unmerited, and that conviction is hereby affirmed, this Court will enhance the sentence. Accordingly, as per the notice of enhancement dated 22nd April 2025, the appellant’s sentence of 25 years imprisonment is hereby set aside and substituted with a sentence of life imprisonment,” ruled the court.

Korir, as per court records, had been handed over the minor by her mother to take her to school.

The minor’s mother went back home after she boarded the vehicle.

The minor in her testimony told the court she was the only passenger aboard the vehicle that had tinted windows.

She said the man drove for a short while and parked the vehicle before he could pick up other school children and defiled her. Korir threatened the minor, warning he would kill her if she cried.

Korir was, however, aggrieved by the trial court decision and lodged an appeal at the High Court and the appeal was dismissed. Undeterred, he approached the Court of Appeal on a second appeal and filed his notice of appeal on June 25, 2021.

In his appeal, he faulted the High Court judge for failing to subject the evidence to fresh scrutiny and thereby arriving at an erroneous decision.

He added that the sentence meted out was harsh and excessive and prayed that his appeal be allowed, and the conviction be quashed.

The appellate court heard the appeal on April 30, 2025. Court records indicate that before hearing the appeal, Korir was notified of a notice of an enhanced sentence by the State.

“The Court gave the appellant a warning, cautioning him, that if he elected to proceed with his appeal, his sentence would be enhanced to a lawful sentence if this Court upheld his conviction,” read the judgment by the Appeal Court judges.

Conscious of the same, and confirming to the Court that he understood the meaning and tenor of the warning, the appellant elected to proceed with his appeal. We will revisit this issue later, if necessary.

Korir noted that the investigations done were too shoddy to create a direct linkage between him and the commission of the offence, adding that his mitigation was improperly rejected.

The State, in opposing the appeal, said that all the ingredients of the offence of defilement were proved. The DPP urged the court to take into account the minor’s evidence, which confirmed that the man had sexually assaulted her in a school van on a Saturday.

The State filed its notice of enhancement of sentence dated April 22, 2025, and urged the Court to enhance Korir’s sentence for the reasons that the 25-year jail term was not commensurate with the crime he committed.

Court of Appeal Judges John Mativo, Mwaniki Gachoka, and Weldon Korir, in their judgment, noted that the findings of the trial court and the high court cannot be faulted and dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.

The judges noted that the sentence was upheld by the High Court.

They added that on at least two occasions, they requested Korir’s lawyer to confirm whether he understood the meaning and implication of the notice to enhance the sentence which he affirmatively confirmed.

The court noted that Korir, in affirming that he had understood the notice, said he was ready to take a blow for the rule of law.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the sentence meted out on Korir was unlawful. The court noted that Korir was given a warning that should the appeal on conviction fail, his sentence would be substituted with a lawful sentence.