A 55-year-old welder has been jailed for 210 years.

Humphrey Shilisia was found guilty of five charges of robbery with violence and rape.

His two co-accused David Gazemba and his wife Amina Melisi were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Eldoret senior principal magistrate Naomi Wairimu said the sentence runs concurrently, meaning the accused person will serve 50 years.

Shilisia robbed GR (whose identity cannot be disclosed for legal reasons) on June 20, 2020, at Wales Estate, Eldoret, of Sh6,000 while armed with a panga.

During the violent attack, he raped GR after robbing her of the Sh6,000 which he transferred from her mobile phone money wallet.

The three were also accused of violently robbed Yulita Mitei of personal effects valued at Sh19,300.

They were also believed to have robbed Moses Rotich of Sh76,800 while threatening to kill him or beat him up in the process.

The prosecution painted a picture of a violent gang of three who were on a robbery spree in the process of which they also robbed Gilbert Murei of Sh4,800.

In her evidence, GR told how the attackers stormed their house at night with a bright torch.

Shilisia moved Sh6,000 from her phone and then transferred cash from Rotich’s phone. After transferring the money, he ordered Rotich to squeeze under his bed.

“He then ordered that I go out with him while brandishing a panga, which was pressed against my neck, then he raped me. After the ordeal, he asked for car keys, and when I told him that I did not know how to drive, he allowed me back into the house, closed the door behind me and left,” she told court.

In his defence, Shilisia recounted that on July 20, 2020, while on his way back from his welding workshop, he stopped at an electronic shop to load music onto his USB.

Two police officers from Langas police station stopped him soon after. 

The officers told him he was under arrest and demanded he walks them to his house so they could conduct a search.

They suspected he had a firearm and that in the course of the search, the officers took a home theatre, a TV set, and a gas cylinder. And to cap their search, they arrested his wife Melisi.

 Gazemba told court he was charged after he refused to comply with the arresting officer’s directives to implicate a fourth suspect.

Magistrate Wairimu said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

“Also from the medical doctor’s report, it shows that the complainant was indeed raped,” the magistrate ruled.