A 45-year-old primary school teacher that defiled a 13-year-old standard six pupil five years ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Fredrick Mwangi Wango reportedly lured the child to his Mathare estate house on March 20, 2016, around 6 am, as she was heading to school and later locked her in the house and went to work.

The child’s guardian got concerned when she failed to return home later that day and called the school, where he was notified that she had not reported to school that day.

Senior Principal Magistrate, David Ndungi, in his ruling, said the teacher had violated the rights of the child instead of protecting her.

“The accused is a teacher but he defiled a child, the right of his children are not superior to that of the child he defiled, I hereby sentenced him to 20 years in prison as provided by law,” the magistrate ruled.

Cases of defilement have been on the rise in the wake of COVID-19, with a majority of them going unreported mostly due to a frustratingly hectic investigation process riddled by corruption that has seen perpetrators walk free.

The sentence will go along way in helping build public trust and hope for victims of rape that justice can be served.