A Lamu court has handed a life sentence to a 19-year-old schoolboy found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old boy at the primary school both attended.
Ali Hussein Kutu was convicted by the Lamu Principal Magistrate under the Sexual Offences Act, 2006, after a trial in which the prosecution presented five witnesses. According to the state, the offence took place on October 3, 2025, at a primary school in Langoni Location, Lamu Central Sub-County. Kutu was then in Grade 9, while the victim was a Grade 3 pupil in the same school.
In reaching its verdict, the court leaned on the testimony of the young complainant and on medical findings that pointed to serious injury from the attack. The magistrate also took into account a victim impact statement and a presentence report, which recorded that the boy had been left traumatised and plagued by nightmares, and that he had to be moved to a different school to keep him safe.
Kutu told the court he had been framed, but the magistrate dismissed the argument, noting that nothing before the court showed any quarrel or bad blood between the two that could have driven the child to make a false accusation.
The court acknowledged that Kutu had no previous convictions and a good record at school. It held, however, that those factors could not soften the penalty the law fixes for defilement of a child aged 11 or younger. Sentencing him to life imprisonment under section 8(1), read together with section 8(2) of the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006, the magistrate said the law left no room for a lesser term.
Kutu has been in custody since October 15, 2025, and has 14 days within which to appeal.
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