- The father said their efforts to get justice for their daughter has always hit a dead end as he never gets concrete information about the case.
- He said they were told that a suspect who was linked to the heinous act had been arrested but his efforts to get further information from police proved futile.
Image: FILE
Image: FILE
On one sunny afternoon on July 14 last year in Kanyiriri, a sleepy village in Nyandarua county, a nine-year-old girl escorted her peer who passed by their home as she was headed home a few metres away.
As she was heading home the girl was waylaid by a man who lured her on falsehood that she was being called by her parents who were planting potatoes in a nearby farm and dragged her toRriver Murindat and defiled her.
The defiler also gouged out the minor’s eyes using a sharp object leaving her for death.
Her loss of sight did not only deprive the then Grade 1 learner of the joy she had started enjoying with her peers in school, but also ushered her into a world of uncertainty and desperation.
The girl’s father narrated that she informed the neighbours that her daughter had disappeared and they embarked on a search mission and found her after nightfall.
The minor was rushed to JM Kariuki Memorial Hospital in Ol Kalou.
The father said on arrival at the hospital, they learned that her eyes had been removed.
Surprised medics at the hospital referred the minor to Kenyatta National Hospital.
On July 15, the family reported the matter at Kanyiriri police base and matter matter was recorded under OB NO: 4/15/7/2021.
One year later, the family is yet to get justice.
The father said their efforts to get justice for their daughter has always hit a dead end as he never gets concrete information about the case.
He added that they were told that a suspect who was linked to the heinous act had been arrested but his efforts to get further information from police proved futile.
While demanding justice for her daughter, the minor’s mother accused police of laxity and bungling investigations on the case.
She said many times her daughter refuses to eat and spends time crying.
The mother added that the stigma that her daughter was subjected to was more than what she bargained for, sobbing that sometimes her daughter wakes up at night to tell her that she had had a dream that her eyesight was restored.
Contacted, Milangine subcounty police commander John Maritim said that the file was long handed to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Maritim said that when the matter was reported he was on leave. He has promised to follow up the matter.
Nyandarua Gender executive Cecilia Kirira said gender-based violence-related cases were many in the county, with nearly three in every 10 people having been rushed to hospital with injuries in 2021.
A government-funded study, the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey, shows that 27.6 percent of residents in the county ended up in hospital after fighting, this being 16 times the national average of 1.7 percent.
She said that the number could be higher if those that did not go to hospital or lied to the doctors the causes of their injuries is factored in.
Data shows that 21 defilement cases were reported in the county between July 2021 and 2022.
Fourteen domestic violence-related cases, one rape case, four sexual assault cases, five threatening to kill cases and one murder case were reported in the county, according to the data.
(edited by Amol Awuor)