JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
[1] On the night of 28th July, 2011, L.N. a girl child aged 12 years was sleeping alone in a rented room within Kirinyaga County. L.N was at the material time under the care of I N, (PW5), who told the trial magistrate that L.N. was his niece, and he had enrolled her in a nearby nursery school and rented for her a room where she was sleeping alone. While L.N. was sleeping, in the said room, she was awoken by a sudden bang on the door, a person she recognized by the name W (appellant) entered the room armed with a panga. The said intruder ordered L.N. to sit down and not to scream as he threatened to kill her and told her that he had come to collect her head. The intruder removed his clothes and tore L.N.’s skirt, petticoat and pants. He had a torch which remained on as he attempted to have sexual intercourse with her. The light from the torch assisted L.N. to recognize the intruder whom she had been seeing in the vicinity and she knew him as W. The intruder was tr…