By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County,Kenya: Jacky, not her real name, is 13 years old, a standard 7 at a primary school in Busia County, she confides to me how her father made it a habit of defiling her when she was 8.
It all began when her parents had a disagreement which resulted in her mother fleeing their home to Nairobi leaving her in custody with the father and the grandmother.
She recounts how one day the father called her into their bedroom and forced himself on her, threatened to kill her if she tells anybody but later she revealed to her grandmother what the father has made a habit of doing but unfortunately nothing was done.
Fortunately, when the mother came back she told her what she was going through, and that is when the mother reported the matter to the authorities and the father was arrested.
She further noted that after the father was arrested the family members chased them away from their homes and now Jacky and her mother are living with a well-wisher.
“My father called me in his bedroom when I told him I was advised not to enter his bedroom. He became furious and pushed me to his bed, covered my mouth with a pillow, and defiled me. This was the first time. After he had done with me he handed me my clothes and warned me not to tell anybody or else he will kill me” she narrated.
“Scared I was, I couldn’t tell anybody. But as time passed, I shared with my grandmother and my aunty but they did nothing. My father continued defiling me until I could no longer take it. That is when I went back to my aunty and requested her to take me out of that home or else I commit suicide. Fortunately, my mother came back from Nairobi and that is when I shared with her my predicaments,” she painfully narrated.
In another scenario, I speak to Millicent 16 years old, and her sister Eunice 15 years old, not their real names from Matayos Busia County.
The two narrated how their father separately defiled them until he impregnated Millicent and later forced her to procure an abortion.
Millicent revealed that on several occasions, the father could assign everyone duties out of their home to get a conducive environment to commit the offense, and little did she know that her younger sister Eunice was going through what she was going through too.
For more than a year, the two sisters were defiled but they could not report to anybody in what they said their father was untouchable.
“We lived together with my sister and my stepmother. One day my father decided to send my sister and my stepmother to the market, that is when he got the opportunity and forced himself on me in one of the houses that were under construction, with a panga in his hands, he warned me never to mention it to anybody,” she said.
“I came to learn that he was also doing the same to my sister. He could call us on a different occasion in the house claiming that he wanted to pray for us, but instead turned on defiling us,” she explained.
When they were asked about their sister, they said their father demanded her to remain behind, but that is the time they revealed what they are going through their father’s hands that is when it came to public limelight and the matter was reported to the police station with help from Mary Makokha, the director REEP, a local organization in Busia county that is when their father was arrested.
A similar case was reported in Buyama in Matayos Sub -County Busia in 2019, where a form three student Margret, not her real name, was impregnated by her father.
When the father realized that she was pregnant he advised her to terminate the pregnancies for fear of bringing shame to the family, the advice she chose not to follow, and with the help of her teacher she was rescued from her home after the father threatened to kill her for failing to adhere to the advice.
Margret was later taken to Kigumo children home for shelter, she gave birth and the child was taken for adoption as she continues with her education
According to her, a form three student was excommunicated from their home when the family realized that she went ahead and delivered.
In Kinandole Butula, Jentrix 16 years old staying with her grandmother was defiled in 2019 by the uncle after promising her to buy her school shoes at the nearby Matayos market but turned on her and raped her.
But when she reached home she reported the matter to the family and was brushed off claiming that the matter will be handled as a family.
Fortunately, she shared with the elder brother, he reported the case to the police but when the perpetrator learned that police were looking for him he disappeared to an unknown location in Nairobi.
“One day my uncle approached me and asked me to prepare and accompany him to Matayos market to buy school shoes. Like any other kid would do, I followed the advice. On the way we passed through changaa den, my uncle stayed there for some hours until I got concerned about whether we will buy shoes as he had promised.
When it got too late I demanded to go back home, but she asked me to wait for him since it was late, it was risky walking alone. I had to wait for him.
When he was through we boarded a motorbike, but when we were near our home after crossing river Namwitsula, my uncle requested the Boda Boda rider to leave us there claiming that we could walk the remaining distance.
I asked him why he released the Boda Boda he said it was already late and it was wise to release him for his safety. A few minutes later, he dragged me to the bush and raped me, and forced me to wash in the nearby river to tamper with evidence.
When I got home I shared with my grandmother but she did nothing that is when shared with my brother who reported the matter to the police officers when he got a hint that I had shared with my brother what he did to me he disappeared and I am told he is in Nairobi,” she narrated
Jentrix a form two student is now calling upon the police officers to make sure that the uncle is arrested and brought to books.
In Nambale Sub -County, Lilian, a 16-year-old, tells me how she was defiled by the cousin when she was 14 years, but the case could not see the light after the family members came in and frustrated any effort to get her justice.
According to her, she was in class 8 when one of the evenings the grandmother sent her to the shop but the cousin offered to escort her but reaching along the way turned on her abusing her sexually warning her not to share with anybody
But when she came back home she reported the matter to the father and the father proceeded to report the case to the police officers, who came and arrested the culprit.
That is when the family members came in threatening and threatened to kill the father and the entire family if he does not withdraw the case.
“As painful as it was, I had to let it go. I stopped attending court proceedings for fear of being attacked by family members. I remember one day my brothers and my parents came to my home ordering me to let the case go or else my entire family will be wiped out. I had to let it go,” he noted.
In a sad case, Vivian and Clare’s sisters aged 8 and 7 respectively, for three years were being defiled by their father, until he could no longer do that after the young ones developed health complications. One of the minors recalls the horrible things the father did to them in the absence of their mother after; she left them behind with their father to look for a job in Nairobi after the parents separated.
The father was arrested later and taken to court and is currently serving a life sentence after he was found guilty of defiling his daughters.
In Betula Sub County, a 22-year-old impregnated his 13 years old sister.
According to their mother, Roselyne Anyango a mother of 7 says, the son’s brother capitalized on her absence to engage in sexual affairs with the third-born daughter and when she realized that the daughter was pregnant, she confronted her to tell her who was responsible for the pregnancy. She was reluctant but she later revealed and to her shock, the siblings had already committed the crime.
She says instead of terminating the pregnancy, she sought advice from the experts on how to handle the case.
They agreed to raise the pregnancy on the condition that the child will never come near the home forever. The daughter was then taken to a safe house in Nairobi where she delivered and gave out for adoption.
Intervention
Mary Makokha says sexual-related crimes are so rampant in Busia county adding that since 1998, she has received more than 13,000 cases of defilement and other related rapes, and still many other cases go unreported.
According to her, in the few cases that go to court, some fail to sail through after the victims disappear failing to give evidence in the court of law adding that most of the sex perpetrators are close family members especially the father adding that out of 52 rape cases reported in 2 years, only 8 are active in court.
“I have over 13,000 cases since 1998 of defilement of children and few cases of rape. But when we talk about defilement but again in defilement incest becomes a big problem. These cases hardly go to court and in most cases, the victims will disappear without a trace because it involves somebody in authority, the same person who is supposed to take care of this child.
For example, how do you expect a father to go to court with the victim and come back home with the child now that there are no safe houses for the victims? It becomes very difficult for such a case to go far because the victim disappears and never to hear from them,” she said
She says she is forced to live with girls in her home after their cases were reported to the authorities and for them to get justice; some had to stay away from their homes for even more than 4 years.
Mary is blaming the mothers in homes saying that in most cases when incest is involving a father and daughter, the mother knows that this is happening, but she has to make the very difficult choice between their child and their marriage and in most cases they chose their marriage leaving the child to continue suffering.
“We have a case of a girl who was defiled by the father and the mother was not willing to report the case but instead, she took the child to her brothers home and unfortunately her brother also defiled the child and as we are talking we don’t know where the child is,” she narrated
“When cases of incest happen like we have a case now where the girl was even impregnated by the father, the girl was taken to the orphanage where she is living but when she gets to 18 years, the girl needs to leave the orphanage where is she supposed to go to? Because the family refused her, the family has said this matter could have been finished at home through cleansing, and all ends there but because she decided to go to court the family disowned her, where will she go?” she paused
She believes that mothers are to be blamed for the rising cases of incest in Busia adding that most mothers are abandoning their children to go to towns and cities to look for jobs leaving their children vulnerable to their fathers.
“Incest is real. And one of the factors leading to this is we have this habit where mother are leaving their children with father to look for jobs in Busia and even Nairobi, mainly domestic works. Sometimes they leave without their husband’s knowledge and so the father defiles the children kind of revenge on the wife for leaving him behind with children.
She urged the department of children and the government to construct a safe house to provide a home for sexually abused victims.
Many children are living with a lot of trauma; many of them don’t know how they will grow up to be adults because of what they have passed through.
Busia county needs to do something we need a shelter in Busia where these children can be taken. It is very abnormal that I have to take a child all the way to Muranga or Nairobi because there is nowhere in Busia to take them. We don’t have that support system for these children,” she said.
According to Jean Paul Murunga the program officer, End sexual violence Equality Now, it is unfortunate the Kenyan society is still yet to break the silence on sexual violence especially when the perpetrator is a father, uncle, brother, or any close relative or neighbor.
Instead of society condemning the victims are blamed for reporting incest. Father some community members go as far as threatening victims with curses. This is very unfortunate and such people should be arrested for obstruction of justice
Lucy Ambasi is principal chief Magistrate at Busia law courts says the prosecution in incest cases only needs to prove that the accused and the complainant are indeed relatives and that there was either penetration or indecent acts committed by either of them.
If there is a relationship between the two, then it overrules the fact that the other person consented to the sexual activity. The only mention of the word ‘consent’ in connection to incest in the Act is only brought about in that provision to bar one from claiming that a minor who is the relative consented to the sexual activity as a defense.
These offenses in Kenya are governed by the Sexual Offences Act, 2006 which was brought to force to deal specifically with sexual offenses since sexual offenses were previously provided for in the Penal Code.
According to her this year they have registered over 70 defilement cases which consist of cases of defilement under the sexual offense act, those that were reported to the police and got to court.
“We can no longer live in denial that fathers are preying on their daughters. At first, I thought this was an exaggeration. But one day I went t Butula and to my shock, I found more than 30 children in one place who are victims of incest after their fathers preyed on them. The most unfortunate thing is that when these children report they are victimized, punished, sent away from home, and even cursed and they have been abused by a parent who is supposed to be caring for them. It is a sad situation.” She noted.
As Busia law court, Ambasi said anybody found guilty upon sufficient evident of abusing the minor will face the full force of the law adding that recently the court set up a children court specifically designed to protect victims
Some of these children come to court seriously traumatized that they can’t speak in presence of their assailant so with this booth a child is able to be shielded from the abuser,” she said.
She noted that some of these cases go unreported because the perpetrators are influential people in the society and ready to buy justice at the expense of their children suffering adding that, as Busia law courts will not tolerate that.
She promised to first track cases involving incest to avoid keeping the children in court for a long time.
She urged the local administration to educate the public not to agree to settle these cases at home to allow the culprit to face the full force of the law adding that if anybody will be found to have defiled a child below eleven-year will be slapped with life imprisonment, a child between 12-15 years the sentence is 20 years and if is a child of 15 -18 years the sentence is 15 years.
