Gospel singer and his lover, sex in Ngong Forest branded as rape and freedom at last

The Magistrate’s Court in Kibra has set free a gospel musician accused of raping his girlfriend in Ngong Forest.

Francis Khulali was acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove that he indeed sexually assaulted his lover in August 2017.

The court was told that the accused struck his lover, identified as Sharon Kwagu, in the head, before forcing himself on her.

The two had gone to the forest for a video-shoot, court documents showed. Kwagu was his official photographer, the court was told.

According to the suit against Khulali, the accused “tricked” his lover to accompany him to Ngong Forest, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.

The court was told that the accused gave Ksh200 to each of their mutual friends, who had gone with them for the shoot, to keep away as he executed his alleged rape plot.

A report by a doctor from Nairobi Women’s Hospital produced in court, however, showed that Sharon did not sustain injuries to her vagina, and, therefore, there was no way she was forcefully penetrated.

The doctor also dismissed as fake allegations that Khulali struck Sharon in the head. The health expert said a medical examination on Sharon showed she did not sustain head injuries, at all.

According to the doctor, yes, the two had sex, but “it was consensual, and that medical examinations revealed Sharon enjoyed the sex”.

Denying the rape charge, Khulali told the court that Sharon vowed to teach him a lesson after she demanded Ksh600 from him after the sexual encounter.

Khulali said he gave the complainant Ksh400, but she insisted that he had to top up the remaining Ksh200.

“After I told her that I did not have the Ksh200 that she wanted as addition, she vowed to teach me a lesson,” Khulali told the court.

At the time of the incident on August 31, 2017, the complainant was 25 years old, and had dated Khulali for two weeks.

The prosecution relied on four witnesses, who testified in a bid to prove that Khulali raped Sharon.

The alleged victim’s mother told the court that on August 31, 2017, her daughter called her while distressed, and informed her that she had been raped by the accused.

The State counsel told the court that the suspect “lured the plaintiff to the thickest part of the forest where he raped her”.

“We had gone to Ngong Forest for a video-shoot. However, as we progressed deeper into the woodland, I realised that the other women, who had accompanied us, were dropping back. When I asked Khulali what his plans were, he told me to relax. When we got into the deepest point of the forest, he hit me hard in the head using a camera. The strike was so hard that it left me unconscious. Khulali, thereafter, raped me,” Sharon narrated to the court.

“Minutes later, I regained consciousness and found him on top of me. I had no choice but to co-operate, given he had threatened me,” said the complainant.

Kibra Resident Magistrate, Boaz Ombewa, dismissed the prosecution’s case, saying they failed to prove that the accused had, indeed, raped the complainant.

The magistrate said no witness produced by the prosecution saw Khulali raping Sharon, and that, in absence of witnesses, medical reports would prove if there was forceful penetration. And, according to Ombewa, the medical examination reports presented in court proved that the rape claims were false.

“The prosecution has failed in its case,” said the magistrate.