Mentally sick man jailed for five years for attempted rape
By MWANGI NDIRANGUA mentally sick man who attempted to rape a married woman has been handed a five-year jail term by a Nanyuki court.
While passing the sentence against Duncan Kunieka Njuguna, Senior Resident Magistrate Evanson Ngigi ruled that although the accused suffers from schizophrenia, his action to commit an offence was premeditated.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others.
Before taking the plea, the court had ordered that Njuguna undergoes a psychiatric test at the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital where a report compiled by Mr R N Gathuru stated that the accused suffers a chronic mental illness called schizophrenia in medical terms.
Njuguna had been charged with attempted rape and indecent assault, an offence committed on October 15, 2016 at Umande Shopping Centre, Laikipia East Sub-county.
But despite the recommendation by the medic that the accused was not fit to take plea on the charges, the trial proceeded to a full hearing, leading to a conviction.
TRIED TO FLEE
“The fact that the accused gained entry to the house of the complainant at midnight and had put a condom on clearly shows he had planned to rape the complainant,” noted Mr Ngigi.
The court heard how on the material day Njuguna sneaked into the woman’s house when her husband was away attending a burial planning committee meeting in the neighbourhood.
Once inside the house, Njuguna did not turn on the lights but went straight to the couple’s bedroom, lifted a breastfeeding baby and placed it on one side of the bed and then started fondling the mother of three.
At first, the woman thought it was her husband who had returned home but when she called out his name, he did not respond and it was at that moment she realized it was a stranger.
She pushed him aside and started yelling and neighbours who responded apprehended Njuguna outside the house as he tried to flee.
In his defence, Njuguna told the court he sufferers from mental disorders after he was involved in a road accident in 2010. To back his claims, he produced document to show that at one time he was receiving treatment at Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi.