Former Embu police boss to serve 30 years in jail for rape

Former Embu North Sub-County DCIO Jervasio Mwaniki Nyaga (pictured) accused of raping a suspect inside his office will now spend 30 years in prison, the High Court ordered yesterday.

Nyaga was handed 20 years in jail for two offences of rape and a further 10 years’ imprisonment on a charge of abuse of position of authority as an enforcement officer.

The verdict issued by a judge sitting in Embu High Court slapped Nyaga with the harsh sentence after overturning a trial court decision that had acquitted him of the charges for lack of evidence.
Beyond reasonable doubt

In convicting and sentencing the former detective, the court found that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the three offences levelled against him.

“I agreed that the prosecution had proven all counts overwhelmingly and that the trial court had erred in descending into the arena of litigation and in considering extraneous factors while acquitting the respondent,” the judge ruled while setting aside the judgment of the trial magistrate.

The court set aside the magistrate decision that had set him free for lack of sufficient evidence.
Nyaga had been charged that on May 31, 2020 at around 5pm, he raped a 42 years old woman at Manyatta Police Station.