Defiler of girl, 7 still free despite 30-year sentence

On December 11, 2025, a magistrate pronounced judgment on a case in which a 7-year-old girl was defiled by a man. ‘I find the accused person herein guilty of the main charge of defilement’, read the legal text in an 8-page judgement, a copy of which The Standard has. The man was subsequently sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

The perpetrator, Salim Said Kuuza, is, however, at large, missing since February 2025, surprisingly after having been arrested and remanded for being a flight risk.

Reliable sources informed us that despite the court’s directives, the police have yet to arrest him. The question we are asking is, was it by design?

The unfortunate incident took place, ironically, on June 30, 2023, during Eid al-Hajj: a time of festivities among Muslims.

Celebrations turned into horror for seven-year-old Mwanakomb, from Pungu village in Kwale County. Her father, Suleiman, narrated the ordeal.

On day 3 of the festivities, Mwanakombo and a friend went house to house, as is tradition, asking for ‘Eid Mubaraka’: gift tokens given to children as part of Eid celebrations.

“They knocked at a neighbouring home and found a young man, from whom they asked for Eid Mubaraka. He said he would give them. But then he sent my daughter’s friend away and told her that her friend, my daughter, would collect the gifts for both of them. He then ushered my little girl into his house.

“He showed her a mango and a Sh50 note. Then he told her that before he could give her the gifts, she needed to strip naked, lie on the floor mat, and close her eyes,” Suleiman says.

As you would imagine, Mwanakombo did as she was told; her 7-year-old brain oblivious of the horror that was about to befall her.

The other girl proceeded straight to Mwanakombo’s home and reported the incident to her mother. Immediately, the woman sensed danger and sprang to her feet, loudly calling out her daughter’s name as she walked back the path, hoping for a response.

Then she heard the screams of her little girl coming from the back door of the house where she was last seen. The mother rushed in and was met by a blood-curdling image of her daughter writhing in pain.

The girl’s mother mobilised neighbours for help so that she could take the little girl to a hospital for a medical examination and subsequent pursuit of the criminal.

“They took her to a private hospital not far from here. The doctor confirmed that penetration took place. In fact, the little girl needed stitches on her wounds,” Suleiman says.

The family then reported to Ng’ombeni Police Post, where a P3 form was filled, prompting officers to seek the arrest of the suspect, Salim Said Kuuza, aged 22 at the time.

According to Suleiman, the accused needed to be presented in court to effectively prosecute the case.

“The police showed no concern at all to proactively apprehend him despite constantly informing them whenever he had been seen. One day, I asked a friend to accompany me to where he had been seen. We went and forcefully took him to the police station. I do not think the police would have ever arrested him if we hadn’t done it ourselves,” says the distraught father.

For the first time, Kuuza’s details were captured, and he was placed under custody at Kwale Prison.

Before the month was over, Suleiman says he received a call from the probation office, informing him that Salim was being released on bond.

To try and stall Salim’s release, Suleiman sought the help of civil society organisation Equality Now, an international non-governmental organisation overseeing a program christened Ending Sexual Violence, in conjunction with a local non-governmental organisation, Sauti ya Wanawake Pwani.

“We supported the parents of the girl to attend court and provide evidence in the case. We also lent technical support with our legal and paralegal officers,” says Judy Gitau, a lawyer and Equality Now’s regional coordinator for Africa.

We sought to find out how the accused managed to get out on bond when he had already demonstrated that he could be a flight risk. Our first point of call was the investigating officer (IO): Madam Fatuma Mbale.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Call the OCS and ask for that information from him,” she responded; her tone communicating great displeasure with our enquiry.

We called the OCS, who was not in charge of the station when the incident took place. He politely asked to get back to us once he had been furnished with details of the case.

“The IO was against giving the accused bail. She told both the probation officer and the magistrate that the accused was a flight risk and should not be released,” the OCS said.

We placed a call to the office of the probation officer. An officer at the office spoke to us under the condition of anonymity.

“I have the file with me here. This office clearly recommended that the accused should not be released on bond because he was a flight risk,” the officer said.

Reliable sources say that the magistrate handling the case at the time was Hon. Zacharia Kagenyo Kiongo. We reached out to him as well.

“Give me time to trace back that case file because I am not sure if I am the one who handled the case: I was transferred from Kwale to Nairobi in 2023 August,” the magistrate said when we first reached out.

Since Salim went missing, the two guarantors, also known as surety, were required to pay Sh80,000 each, or serve a term of six months in jail, if they failed to meet the terms.

According to court records, confirmed to The Standard by the Court Administrator, Antony Wanjala, the uncle was in jail for about two weeks in September 2025, then paid Sh72,245 as the remainder of his surety terms. He was then released.

As for the sister, she raised the total amount the same day and never spent a day behind bars. Clearly, it was an amount too comfortable for the family to pay off.

In our investigations, some key questions remain unanswered.

One, Salim Said Kuuza had demonstrated that he was a flight risk by going missing immediately after the incident: why was he still given bond? And why was the bond lenient (Sh80,000)?

Two, why weren’t the opinions of the IO, the chief and villagers not considered in the decision to bond-release the accused?

Three, a defilement case, as per Kenyan law, should be expedited and determined within six months: why did it take nearly three years in Mwanakombo’s case?

Four, with an active warrant of arrest against Salim, why haven’t the police put the vast state resources to use to apprehend him?

By the time of going to press, Hon. Kiongo had not answered whether he was the one who gave bond terms, and why (if true) he was lenient to the perpetrator.

Mwakombo and her family continue to live in fear of what might happen if the accused ever gets to know their whereabouts.