A 19-year-old woman has pleaded with the Mombasa law courts not to jail her estranged boyfriend, who allegedly defiled her.
In her confession before Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Vincent Adet, the complainant Sharlet Maria informed the court that she was still in love with Paul Luhanzo, who is alleged to have defiled her at the age of 16.
Further, the young woman told the court that despite her parents being against the relationship she became pregnant with Luhanzo’s child even after he had been arrested and charges of defilement levelled against him.
“Even after he was arrested we went on with the relationship secretly and would often see each other. He is the father to my daughter,” she said.
“Before l testify l want to inform the court that, Luhanzo never defiled me. He took his time to seduce me before l agreed to have sexual intercourse with him. I’m here not to testify against him but to tell this court the entire truth,” she said
“I was coerced to testify against him after my parents realized that l l had spent a night at his house. We have a child together and he has been taking care of our child, In case you jail him for something that was consensual who will take care of our child if my father does not assist me with his upkeep?” she posed
