For some time now, a video of an elderly man serving a jail term in Nakuru prison has been troubling Kenyans.
The man has now been identified as Elijah Mburu who is aged 97 and was serving 21 years in prison.
In an interview with Jamba tv presenter Simon Kibe, the elderly man has revealed that he was jailed after he was accused of impregnating a girl who was underage and later delivered twins.
“I was supposed to embark on a journey to get a new wife from Narok. However, my son brought a young lady home, and told me she was ready to be a wife,” he claimed
Mburu was arrested and jailed in December 2017 and will serve a 21-year sentence.
“I thought she was 18 years old, but her mum was mad about what happened. I was reported to the authorities. But I know, she was 18 when we met,” he insisted.
He claimed that he was convicted of defilement because the case was allegedly unfair to him. Mburu claimed that his mistake was failing to meet the girl’s family beforehand
However, Court files show that Mburu was found guilty of the crime because the young teen was less than 18 years old.
The prosecution told the court that the elderly man had assaulted the young teen when he went to take refuge at his house on August 31, 2017.
The man was allegedly marched to the Mau Narok police station after neighbours learnt about what he had done. His son was also among the prosecution’s witnesses.
He was later sentenced to 21 years in jail after the court found him guilty. Mburu had tried to plead for leniency with the court, citing his age and remorse.
“Please do not sentence me to a jail term exceeding five years, because I am in my old age,” he told the court, but his plea went unheard after the court found the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
