By Abimbola Ogunnaike
A 19-year-old woman has pleaded before magistrate court the Mombasa, Kenya not to imprison her ex-lover who was charged with defiling her when she was a minor.
Sharlet Maria, who appeared before Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Vincent Adet, also revealed that she was still in love with Paul Luhanzo who reportedly defiled her when she was 16.
Maria told the court that she became pregnant with Luhanzo’s child in spite of her parents being against the relationship and even after he had been arrested and charged with defilement.
“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.
“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.
“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?”
After Maria gave her testimony, the court directed the social enquiry report to be tabled before the court to enable it make a decision.
