A Kilifi court has handed a 30-year prison sentence to Godfrey Memba, 32, after finding him guilty of trafficking and defiling a 16-year-old girl.
Kilifi Chief Magistrate Charles Obulutsa found Memba guilty of defilement under Section 8(1) as read with Section 8(4) of the Sexual Offences Act and trafficking in persons under Section 3(1) as read with Section 3(5) of the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act.
The case arose after the teenager went missing from her family in 2025.
The prosecution told the court that Memba first encountered the girl during a church service at New Life Church in Mavueni, where he allegedly gained her trust before taking her away from her grandmother’s care.
According to the evidence presented in court, Memba left Mavueni for Mombasa with the girl and his two young children. The prosecution said he subsequently kept the teenager in Mombasa, where she was subjected to sexual exploitation.
Concern over her whereabouts prompted her family to report her disappearance at Chasimba Police Station. The investigation was later taken over by officers from the DCI Kilifi North.
The girl’s father subsequently received text messages demanding money for her return. Investigators traced the telephone number used to send the messages and established that it was registered to Memba.
DCI officers eventually located Memba at Repentance and Holiness Church in Mombasa, where he was arrested. The teenager and the two children were rescued.
Six prosecution witnesses testified during the trial, among them the teenager, a medical doctor and the officer who arrested Memba.
In his judgment, Chief Magistrate Obulutsa said the prosecution had established the required elements of both offences to the criminal standard of proof.
The magistrate found that Memba had recruited, transported and harboured the teenager for purposes of sexual and financial exploitation.
The court also relied on the messages seeking money for the girl’s return in assessing the allegation of financial exploitation.
Memba’s account of events was rejected by the court, with the magistrate describing his defence as “weak and contradictory.” The court also found that it failed to explain the circumstances under which the missing teenager was found with him in Mombasa.
While determining the punishment, the court considered the victim’s age and the circumstances in which the offences were committed, including the trafficking element.
Memba was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison.
