Kenyan lawmakers have welcomed an historic court ruling, in which a man convicted of raping a four-year-old girl was jailed for life, terming it an important step towards deterring rising cases of sexual violence against children in the country. The 18-year-old offender, Paul Ngure Ngigi, was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty in a trial described as one of the shortest-ever. This was also the harshest penalty ever served in Kenya for a sexual offence.