High Court of Kisumu revised life sentence handed over to an Italian National convicted of defilement to 30 years.

The Kisumu High Court affirmed the conviction of Italian national Paolo Camelini, who was charged in February 2022 for defiling a 3-year-old boy in Kisumu’s Manyatta Estate.

The Italian national was sentenced to life in jail for defiling a minor, but he appealed, claiming that the lower court erred in law by permitting an intermediary to testify on the victim’s behalf.

He further claimed that the trial court failed to understand that the intermediary’s oral evidence was not for the victim and that the victim’s frequent use of the name ‘Paolo’ was insufficient evidence to identify the appellant.

Lady Justice Roseline Aburili, on the other hand, concurred with the lower court that the victim, being a minor of three years, could not testify, necessitating the use of an intermediary to testify on the victim’s behalf, and that the testimony adduced by the intermediary was that of the victim.

The court also decided that the prosecution, led by Senior Principal Prosecution Counsel John Okoth, proved beyond a reasonable doubt the evidence of both defilement and the identification of the appellant, as well as the victim’s age.

The Court, on the other hand, overturned the lower court’s life sentence and replaced it with 30 years in jail, claiming that the lower court failed to take into account the fact that the appellant was a first-time offender.