A 24-year-old woman has been jailed for 15 years for having a sexual relationship with a 16 years old boy.

Ms Judith Wandera, a Kenyan, had stunned a Kisumu court after she admitted to having sex with a minor.

She claimed that she thought she had finally found ‘love’ during the four-month affair.

Wandera was on Wednesday found guilty of defilement and intentionally performing an indecent act on a minor contrary to the Sexual Offences Act, on July 5, 2017 at Kicomi area.

Seven witnesses testified against her in the case while she never presented any, only defending herself during the entire trial.

The court, after considering all the evidence presented by the complainant, ruled that it agrees the two knew each other and had sexual intercourse on numerous occasions.

Principal Magistrate Ms Joan Wambilyanga, in his judgment, said the two were arrested on July 17, one year after they had started getting sexually involved.

“Both admitted to having sex, sometimes protected, sometimes unprotected.

According to her, she could not tell how many times they did it,” said Ms Wambilyanga.

In her defence, Ms Wandera claimed she could not establish on the first day they met, that he was a minor.

She narrated to the court how they met and started dating, adding that looking at the physical appearances, she could not tell he was underage.

The Sexual Offences Act actually allows an accused to cite this as defence, especially when physical appearance can be deceiving. But on this occasion, the court found that the woman made no efforts to establish whether the person she was dating was actually an adult.

She narrated to Principal Magistrate Joan Wambilyanga how she met her dreadlocked lover in April 2016 at a pub and couldn’t tell, from his physique, that he was still in primary school.

ABUSING DRUGS

The boy had told her that he is a boda boda operator. He was also fond of abusing drugs, she said.

“We met in April 2016 on one evening at a drinking joint in Kondele. He even offered to buy me drinks and settle the bill before we exchanged phone contacts and started dating,” she told the court.

She acknowledged that her lover now looks younger, having shaved off his dreadlocks.

“The boy had dreadlocks when we met, but after being taken to juvenile prison, and he has shaven, I was surprised to see how young he looked when he came to testify,” she said.

According to the testimonies of the boy’s parents, their son was a Standard 7 pupil at Manyatta Arabs primary school but stopped attending school after meeting Ms Wandera.

The parents also stated that they reported the matter to the police following reports that their son had already moved in with her.