Tuktuk driver slapped with 3-year sentence for assaulting lover

According to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Alfred Ziro Yawa assaulted Stella Miki Ziro at Mavueni Stage in Kilifi on January 9, 2025, as she waited for transport to her workplace at Chasimba Hospital.

DPP said that Stella was on that day waiting for transport to go to work when Yawa arrived and forced her to board his tuktuk.

Upon refusal, he allegedly alighted and struck her eight times on her head before taking her kit that contained her money, house keys and work identity card.

Stella was accounted for by eye witnesses and medical evidence from Chasimba dispensary that showed she had suffered pain on the left side of her head caused by the hit of a blunt object.

An investigating officer from Chasimba Police Station also testified on the circumstances of the assault and its impact on the complainant.

Stellah told the court that she had been living separately from Yawa after leaving their marriage where he married a second wife.

Principal Magistrate Hon. Ivy D. Wasike observed that yawa had continued to pursue and harass Stellah despite their separation, which had lasted 12 years.

Prosecution urged the court to impose a deterrent penalty to reinforce the seriousness of gender-based violence and discourage similar offences.

Yawa pleaded for leniency, expressing remorse and telling the court that he was willing to reform his behavior but the court sentenced him to three years imprisonment.