• The medical reports revealed that her vagina was penetrated.
• She was able to identify the culprit and he was remanded at Industrial Area Prison, awaitinga hearing on March 4, 2020.
Image: FILE
She was raped on an early rainy morning on December 5 last year on her way home in Uthiru, Nairobi, after leaving work at West Forties in Githurai 44, Nairobi.
The victim, a Nairobi resident, narrated to the Star the suffering she underwent after falling victim to a sex pest. In the period that followed, the stigma of having been raped was too humiliating.
At first, she thought the man’s only intention was to steal from her and walk away. She was willing to surrender her phone and the Sh730 she had in exchange for her freedom. But instead, she was dragged to a nearby river where the unthinkable happened.
"As I tried to negotiate, he slapped me, wielded a dagger and raped me. He demanded the money I had. I had Sh130 cash and Sh600 in my M-Pesa account which I transferred to him so he could release me,” the victim told the Star.
“When I returned home, I informed my auntie and father of the horrific ordeal and they advised me to have a rest first before we could go to hospital.”
She reported the matter and gave her statement at Kabete police station under OB number 84/6/12/2019 and went for treatment at Nairobi Women’s Hospital. The medical reports revealed that her vagina was forcibly penetrated.
Fortunately, investigations did not take long because the police traced the culprit using the phone number that was earlier used for the M-Pesa transactions.
Investigating officers set a trap for him by asking for a meetup through a text message. He was arrested and found with the same dagger he had at the time of the assault. That served as concrete evidence.
The victim was able to identify the man after the arrest. He is currently on remand at Industrial Area Prison, awaiting a hearing on March 4.
Back at work, things did not work out well for the woman. She had reported back as usual and expected things would be normal. However, informing her boss, Levis, of the ordeal later worsen her situation when things took a turn for the worst.
“I informed my supervisor that I would not be able to come to work for a period of time and he understood. We both agreed that I would update him on everything,” she said.
She took time off to heal but when she returned, the supervisor said she took long to resume her duties, hence would have to work more.
“He started changing the story and he told me that I should not be giving myself so many days off.”
She claimed the supervisor forced her to work 12 hours a day and she did not have time to take her daily medication. And as if that was not enough, she later learned that all her colleagues knew about the rape incident, meaning the supervisor, whom she had expected to give her moral support, told the other staff members.
On Tuesday when the Star sought comment from Levis, he promised to call later. Follow-up attempts to get his response to the accusations were unsuccessful. He did not return calls.
The woman said she underwent untold suffering. “I did not eat the whole day and I was supposed to take my medicine. When I approached him and asked him to release me to go home, he told me that I would only leave work on his own terms.
“My dad called to check on me and he learned that I had not taken my medications. He confronted my supervisor and that was when he finally advised me to resign,” she said.
She said she was relieved after moving away from the discomfort that surrounded her workplace.