A Kenyan judge who freed a man convicted of defiling a minor has attracted the international spotlight, with his ruling being judged the worst in the world for the past year.

Justice Said Juma Chitembwe, ruled that the child appeared willing to have sex with the defendant.

He, therefore, on April 25 last year, set free Martin Charo, 24, who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for having sex with a 13-year-old.

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The ruling was awarded the Golden Bludgeon in Spain on Wednesday by Women’s Link Worldwide, beating 18 other cases to emerge the world’s worst ruling for women’s rights in 2016.

The State has since appealed against the ruling.

An Italian court’s decision got the Silver Bludgeon for acquitting a man who raped his co-worker after ruling that the woman failed to prove her case for not screaming loud enough.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines’ decision to ban access to certain contraceptive methods, denying millions of women the right to freely choose what drugs to use, was voted third worst decision in the world.

Under the Sexual Offences Act, a child below 18 years cannot give consent to sexual intercourse and therefore, all intimacy with children, willing or not, is defilement.

Despite that, Justice Chitembwe overturned the 20-year jail term that a magistrate had given Charo and freed him