Nairobi, April 9 -- On March 7, 2024 Justice Anne Ong'injo of the Mombasa High Court upheld the conviction of Father Dominic Muli Nzioka for sexual misconduct with a minor. She, however, substituted the seven-year sentence with a directive that he preaches about the Sexual Offences Act at least once every month, for three years. This elicited outrage in some quarters.

The End Femicide KE Movement, for instance, termed the judgement as "morally repugnant and unjust" and a deviation from the Sexual Offences Act, which prescribes minimum sentences, different from the type imposed.

This column has previously observed that many judicial officers dislike minimum sentences for denying them discretion hence, have ignored the prescribed sentence...