Kiambu's Githunguri the capital for sodomy, rape

He tried to electrocute her to death by putting a live wire in her mouth after he was done raping his nine-year-old cousin.

He got distracted by noises coming from their home compound in Karia village, Githunguri constituency, and she managed to escape.

“I quickly rushed to my father and told him what had just happened. He furiously confronted him with a machete but my cousin took advantage and twisted him with words because he was too drunk to understand anything.”

The rapist escaped after he learnt that he had been reported. No arrest has been made yet.

 Githunguri in Kiambu county is famous for sodomy of both girls and boys, other sexual assault and murder.

Sodomy and rape are the most rampant crimes.

From the youngest to the eldest, residents do not feel safe at day or night.

Insecurity is so rampant that some residents have moved to urban areas and other safer places.

Githunguri has a population of 165,232 people. 82,037 men, 83,187 women and eight reported intersex.

Residents told the Star that the culprits are young men, some police officers and some pastors, who initiate young men into sex cults.

They target both the young, the mentally challenged and the elderly who may be molesting in a thicket or at the victim's house.

Old men in their 80s and 90s are targeted mostly when they leave clubs.

In Karia village, more than 10 mentally challenged old have died after they were sodomised

“Old men suffer in silence and do not like to disclose what they go through. When they report the incident at the police station, no action is taken. Some have been raped several times while others die in the process due to trauma and depression,” sources told the Star.

Young children are targeted immediately they leave school early in the evening.

most sodomy cases in Githunguri communities involve relatives.

In 2018, a 10-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised by his 18-year-old cousin. It was not the first tie the boy was sodomised. He never disclosed the abuse to anyone until her mother Eunice heard fellow residents narrating how the victim’s classmate was almost sodomised by his nephew.

“When they were getting out of school in the evening, my nephew grabbed my son’s friend and when he saw what he was trying to do to his friend, he screamed. The scream attracted a lot of people from the community.”

“When asked about the incident, he said that he screamed because he did not want what happened to him happen to anyone else,” his mother said.

His mother told the Star her son was sodomised for 10 days by the same person.

The case was followed for one year and no arrest has been made. The culprit is still roaming around the village.

Eunice also said that the judge who was handling the case was transferred, the case was turned over to another magistrate and it was determined the victim was mentally handicapped. That's how the case ended.

Raping a handicapped boy is no big deal?

“I gave up after the ruling and left it all to God. I left all the documents at the police station. He used to faint occasionally because of the trauma. I took him for counselling and he is now better."

But whenever he sees him [the attacker], he still gets traumatised. The family still entertains him because we are living from the same compound,” she said.

In October only, 30 cases were reported to community social workers and human right activists. Less than five of these cases have reached police stations.

In the last three months, 50 cases were reported, 30 were taken to police stations, five were taken to court and only one case reached the judgement stage, a human rights activist said.

Most cases are settled by village elders and chiefs due to lack of awareness and civic education.

The reason most of these cases go unreported is that most residents not know their rights and have zero knowledge of the judicial system.

Some residents do not know what an OB number is or what steps should be taken once they have reported a matter at the police station.

Lawyers, judges, police officers and local administrators including children's officers have been accused by Githunguri residents of being corrupt and taking advantage of their illiteracy

As documents get lost in police custody, there are allegations that police officers bribe the accused by approaching them and scaring them that they will receive a longer sentence.

This means that the culprits have more power than the victim.

There is a police officer by the name of M.who was mentioned by many residents and is being accused of deliberately hiding documents and not giving justice to the people of Githunguri.

He is the main investigator of these cases does little about them.

Also, it is alleged that most of the time, the police like to receive cases of traffic offences and drugs such as marijuana because they are certain they will receive ‘good’ bribes.

Sometimes, failure of police officers to investigate defilement angers residents and they decide to take action on their own by lynching culprits and stoning them to death.

The Star tried to reach Githunguri OCPD several ties for comment, without success.

Githunguri deputy county commissioner Ali Nuno told the Star that they have never received any complaints or received reports of sodomy and rape from the residents at the Githunguri police station.

He also denied any police officer is involved in bribery.

Githunguri MP Gabriel Kago told the Star on the phone that quick action must be taken against police officers who are trying to withdraw these cases.

“We need to have those who have OB numbers and those who have gone to hospitals to come forward. The police officers who are not doing any investigations on these cases should be questioned.

(Edited by V. Graham)