Police record rise in defilement cases

 

A security guard who defiled his girlfriend’s eight-year-old daughter repeatedly for over ten days in Mukuru Kwa Reuben slums in Nairobi now waits to know his fate after he was put on trial this week.
The minor was rescued by officers who had gone to arrest her mother over a different offence and noticed that the girl was sharing the bed with the suspect.

The 58-year-old was on Monday charged at the Makadara law court with defiling the minor on diverse dates between July 31 and August 11.

On the night of August 11, two female and a male police officers went to his house at around 10pm to arrest the minor’s mother who had been accused of defrauding two women.

The guard opened the door and told the officers that his girlfriend was not in the house. The officers entered the house to confirm only to find the girl in bed.

The suspect however defended himself saying he was living with the children because their mother had told them to leave their father’s place and stay with him.

The three were escorted to the police station where the minor revealed that the man used to defile her daily until that night when the officers went to the house.

The same was later confirmed by doctors who examined the child.

On Monday, he denied the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Mercy Malingu and was released on a bond of Sh500,000. The victim has been placed under protection by the government and the case will be heard on November 13, 2023.

Though according to the Economic Survey 2023, there was a decrease in both rape and defilement cases last year, latest reports indicate a sharp increase in defilement cases in the last two months.

According to the survey, defilement accounted for 76.8 per cent of the number of persons reported to have committed crimes against morality followed by rape at 11.5 per cent.

Some of the victims have been defiled by their fathers, while others by their teachers or care givers, according to the latest reports.

A number of cases have been reported in the last two weeks. Detectives however say most of these cases go unreported.

On August 12, a five-year-old girl was defiled by a man who later attempted suicide to escape arrest in Mobamba village of Masaba South in Kisii county.

After defiling the girl, the young man aged 19 locked himself in his father’s house where he took poison in an unsuccessful bid to take his own life. Police said he will be charged in court after being discharged from hospital.

The same day in the same county, another teacher based at Suneka primary school was arrested for defiling his pupil aged 13. The minor went missing August 11 and later surfaced and upon interrogation, she revealed that she was with her teacher whom she had a love affair with.

The minor was taken to hospital where it was confirmed that she had been defiled.
According to police reports, on August 11, another teacher at Ondome Primary school in Uriri, Migori county was arrested for defiling an 11-year old pupil.

Police said the teacher, aged 43, defiled the pupil inside the school’s staffroom on Sunday July 30 at around 4pm after remedial classes.

On Tuesday, Makadara Law Courts heard how a Newlight School bus conductor defiled a three and a half year old pupil when being dropped home.

The case was however heard in the magistrate’s chamber to protect the identity of the victim.

In another case on August 10 in Kiboronjo in Subukia, Nakuru county, a Grade Six pupil was discovered to be pregnant and upon interrogation, the girl revealed that she had been defiled by a Form Three student aged 18 in June this year.

“The pupil exhibited signs of pregnancy and she was taken to Mbogoini Health Centre where she was found to be pregnant. The mother was summoned and the pupil revealed that she had been defiled in the month of June by DM, a Form 3 student,” police report read.

The reports further indicate that on August 9 in Kikulini village of Masii in Mwala, Machakos county, a 22-year-old man was arrested for defiling and impregnating a Form 1 student aged 14.    BY PEOPLE DAILY