International Justice Mission, the people behind the case, welcomed the sentence, saying it progressed from reporting to sentencing in just over one year.

The Msambweni Law Courts / BRIAN OTIENO

A man who was found guilty of sodomy in Kwale county has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Athuman Juma will spend the rest of his life in prison after the Msambweni Law Court, on October 5, ruled that he was guilty of penetrating a Grade 2 learner on June 7, 2025.

The boy developed health complications as a result as he could not control his stool.

On Friday, senior principal magistrate Leah Kabaria, said a life sentence is sufficient for Juma, who attended the court session virtually from the Kwale prison.

In Kwale prison, Juma sat pensively as he watched his freedom going up in smoke.

In mitigation, Juma had asked the court to have mercy on him.

Athumani Juma, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Msambweni Law Court on Friday / BRIAN OTIENO

He had earlier denied the two counts of intentionally and unlawfully causing his penis to penetrate the anus of the child, and intentionally and unlawfully touching the child’s anus with his penis.

The first count, carries a life sentence if found guilty.

“Looking at the nature of the case and the child involved, I find that that sentence is sufficient,” Kabaria said.

She said Juma has the right to appeal the sentence at the Kwale High Court within 14 days.

Juma, who attended the court virtually from Kwale Prison, appeared shocked by the sentence.

Kabaria said the child, who is now eight years old, suffered both physical and psychological damage.

“According to reports I have, the boy cannot sleep, has withdrawn from school activities, because of social stigma,” Kabaria said in her ruling.

He had to be transferred to another school.

“To date, he still has to undergo counseling. We cannot know how long it will take him to go back to his normal life,” Kabaria said.

“This sentence is an important step toward justice for the survivor and demonstrates what is possible when communities and justice institutions work together to protect children and hold offenders accountable,” Aggrey Juma, IJM manager in charge of the Violence Against Women and Children Program, said.

Aggrey said the case progressed from reporting to sentencing in just over one year, a significant achievement for a child sexual abuse case.

“The timely resolution reflects the commitment of justice actors in Kwale county to ensuring child survivors can access justice without unnecessary delays,” he said.

He said the swift conclusion of the case resulted from a coordinated response by community members, civil society, healthcare providers, and criminal justice actors.

“Community members and paralegals from Tunawajali Wajane helped protect the child, preserve critical evidence, and report the case to the police for investigation.

“Healthcare workers documented the abuse and provided medical care, while justice system actors played key roles in securing accountability,” the VAWC manager said.

IJM Kenya served as victim counsel for the child and family throughout the case.

In addition to legal representation, IJM facilitated counselling and psychosocial support services to help the child and family navigate the justice process and begin their recovery journey.

Five prosecution witnesses testified against him.

Juma is said to have lured the child from a football pitch where he was playing football with his friends to his house in Vivalani village in Lungalunga subcounty, Kwale county.

In an unsworn testimony, the then Grade 2 learner, who testified first, told the court while playing football on a Sunday, Juma, whom he had always seen fetching water at a nearby water kiosk, called him.

He told the court he refused to go but Juma picked him anyway, took him to his house with a promise to give him sweets, and did bad manners to him in the house.

He narrated to the court how Juma removed all his (the child’s) clothes, then proceeded to remove his own trouser, remaining with his underwear, before applying oil on the child’s buttocks and his own penis, and penetrating him.

The child told the court Juma did it twice on the same day before threatening him not to tell anyone or he would kill him.

The child however told his two brothers, and days later was able to tell his mother.

That is when he was taken to hospital and Juma was arrested.

The child did not go to school for a lengthy amount of time because he could not control his stool.

Majaliwa Mohammed Bakari, a fishmonger in Kikoneni and who is related to Juma, testified in court that on June 14, 2025, about a week after the incident, one of the many children who had come to his house to watch a movie approached him and told him that the minor could not control his stool.

Majaliwa (PW2) asked the victim if he was in pain. The child told him he was not in pain and narrated to him how Juma had taken him to his house and did bad manners to him.

The PW2 told the court he took the victim and went with him straight to Juma, whom he knew as a water selling businessman, and confronted him about the incident.

Juma denied it but the child was insistent.

Majaliwa said he then took the child to Kikoneni police station and reported the matter before going to the hospital where it was confirmed that the child had been defiled.

The third prosecution witness, Abdalla Juma Chano, a community paralegal legal working with Tunawajali Wajane, a community-based organization, told the court he was watching the news on June 14, 2025 when he had a commotion outside his house.

He said he found Majaliwa holding the child’s hand confronting Juma.

On assessing the situation, he took the child aside and calmly asked him what had happened.

The child told him what had happened.

Abdalla then returned to the crowd and separated the accused from the mob that had gathered and had started beating Juma.

Abdalla also said he is related to Juma, and had known him for over 15 years.

Shabaan Matano Machakure, a clinical officer at the Kikoneni Health Center, told the court the child was received at the facility on June 16, 2025, accompanied by two police officers.

Shabaan and nurse Sophia, acting as the chaperone, did an anal exam on the child and found that there was loss of anal sphincter muscle strength indicative of overstretching of the anal orifice.

Police constable William Ng’anga from the Shimoni police station, who was the investigating officer, said Juma was brought to the police station on June 14, 2025 by members of the public, with his hands tied.

It was then alleged that Juma had defiled the minor.

Ng’anga told the court he escorted both the child and Juma to hospital where it was confirmed that the child had been defiled.

However, Juma insisted before the court that he was framed up.

In a sworn statement of defense, he claimed the child was beaten so as to accuse him.

He stated that he was in Makambani one morning getting his bicycle serviced when he was called to deliver water in Kirugu village, where he sold water until evening.

He then passed b his uncle Abasi’s house to say hello, shortly after which Majaliwa and another man called Salim showed up holding the child’s hand.

He told the court the child at first denied that he had been defiled but he was threatened he would be beaten and change his mind, accusing him of defiling him.

Juma said he noticed the child was bleeding from the head and he concluded that he had been beaten and that a confession was being forced out of the child to frame him.

He said he had been framed because of other things that had happened earlier.

Senior principal magistrate Leah Kabaria, in her judgment on October 5, said the prosecution had proved beyond doubt that the child had been defiled through penetration of his anus.

She said the child at first only told his two minor brothers because he was afraid if he told an adult, he would be killed, as had been threatened.

“It emerged that it was these two that reported to his uncle that he could not control his stool. That his uncle asked him who hurt him, that he beat him to reveal who harmed him and it was only then that he told,” the senior principal magistrate said.

She said she read nothing in the child’s testimony to suggest that he had been coached and that his testimony was as clear as the testimony of a child can be.

“Indeed, the child himself told the court he did not reveal his assailant until he was beaten. I see nothing about it that suggests a frame-up. It in fact cements the child’s testimony that he kept quiet as he was threatened with death,” Kabaria said in her judgment.

“In view of the forgoing, I do find the prosecution has proved their case to the required standard. I hereby convict the accused person of the charge under consideration being Defilement contrary to section 8(1) as read with section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act No.3 of 2006 under the provisions of section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” Kabaria said.