Woman says police charged man with assault yet she reported rape

 

A Garissa woman has accused the police of changing her rape and robbery with violence report and charging the perpetrator with assault.

The woman who is five months pregnant said she was raped and robbed by a famous businessman in Garissa. The man is a childhood friend who had wanted to marry her. 

She appealed to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to help her get justice.

In a letter to the DPP the woman said she reported the case to the police who recorded it as an assault and omitted other details.

The woman said she was taking her two siblings to her brother in Garissa who was supposed to help them get to Wajir to visit their mother when she was accosted by the man.

She said the man pulled out his gun and forced her to go with him to a nearby hotel.

When she attempted to scream for help, the woman said the man beat her up and told onlookers that she was his estranged wife attempting to run away to Somalia.

“Whenever I screamed, he told whoever tried to intervene that I was his,” she explained.

She said that because such cases are common in the region, and culture protected men who did that, no one intervened.

“He took me to a hotel, booked a room where he repeatedly raped me holding his gun at me before leaving, locking me inside.” 

“I kept screaming but no one came to my rescue, the hotel staff could not help as he had left with the keys,” she said.

The man came back at night the next day with two other people, a woman and a man who took away her belongings.

“They took my gold necklaces, chains, and earrings worth Sh167,400, iPhone worth Sh130,000, Sh60,000 cash, my original ID, and two copies of my parent’s ID cards and my clothes,” she said.

“Immediately they left, I used a “mulika mwizi” phone that I had hidden. I phoned a friend who called the police who came and opened the door for me,” she said.

Asha reported the issue at Garissa police station and her statement was recorded.

She was even sent to Iftin subcounty hospital where a clinical officer examined her and filled in a P3 form which she said she returned to the station.

Last week, the suspect was taken to court on assault charges, not rape or sexual assault and robbery with violence. It shocked the woman. 

She went back to the police station and found that the OB recorded her case as assault and some details omitted.

“How the case had changed from rape and robbery with violence to an assault was unbelievable.”

“I went to the DCIO to report the matter but while at his office, he called the suspect and instead tried to reconcile us. I declined to cooperate and walked out,” she said.

The woman said a day after reporting the incident, people who identified themselves as officers from the anti-terror police unit approached her claiming they were trailing everyone who travelled on the bus she took as they had a report that suspected al Shabaab militants were aboard.

The woman told the Star that she knows the suspect from childhood as they grew up together.

“He wanted to marry me but I declined since I already had a suitor whom I am currently married to,” she said.

Garissa regional commissioner Rono Bunei told the Star the matter is under investigation. Further action will be taken if there is evidence on the allegations, he said. 

“So far, I am only aware of the assault case in which the accused has already taken plea in court,” he said.

He said the accused, a licensed gun holder was disarmed of the weapon following the allegations.

“It’s being tested ballistically to establish if it was used in any criminal activity or to threaten the complainant,” he said.

Bunei also said that they are reviewing CCTV footage from the hotel to find out more evidence on the matter. BY THE STAR