• Defilement cases the highest at 182, assault 100, rape 15.
• 321 cases recorded between January and December 2021.
Image: FILE
Lucy still has a hard time sleeping alone in a room or walking alone in isolated places.
The memories live with her though Lucy (not her real name) turned age 21 on Monday and has has gone through therapy after she was defiled several times by a man she believed was her uncle
It was 13 years ago in Busia.
“I was eight years old and was living with my aunt and her ailing husband. Then a man when a man named Justin started defiling me,” she recounted to the Star.
“He was a neighbour and I knew him as my uncle. He would pretend to come visit him [aunt's husband] when my aunt was away. When he found me sleeping, he defiled me," Lucy said.
Though Lucy told her ailing uncle first, he took no action until another neighbour saw Lucy and her 'uncle' leaving a maize plantation. The man looked suspicious.
“She reported the incident to my aunt who took me to a hospital and later, he was arrested. He was charged on January 11, 2010, in Marachi, Busia, she said.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but it was reduced to 15 years on appeal.
As Kenya joined the world in marking the International Day of Nonviolence, a new study indicates that defilement remains the most reported form of sexual and gender-based violence in parts of Kenya.
Statistics by the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) in Kwale, Busia and Kajiado counties show 321 SGBV cases were reported between January and December 2021.
Defilement cases were the highest at 182, assault 100, rape 15, sodomy 14, emotional four and intimate partner violence two.
This data indicates that children are the most vulnerable to SGBV since they cannot defend themselves against the perpetrators or they can be lured easily by the perpetrators.
“It was also evident that during school closure, cases of SGBV spiked as witnessed in April and September where 15 and 67 cases were recorded, respectively, during school holidays,” Calvin Chepsiror, data analyst and programme assistant for CCGD said.
In response to the spike of SGBV during the Covid-19 pandemic, CCGD established Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centres in Busia County Referral Hospital, Kajiado County Referral Hospital and Msambweni Level 5 Hospital.
Some 252 of the 321 cases were reported in Busia county; 61 in Kwale county and eight in Kajiado county,” Chepsiror said.
He explained data variance is based on different factors such as the centres not being established at the same time.
“The variation, especially in Kajiado county, was because the centre started operating in November. Therefore, the data was only gathered for two months,” he said.
According to the data, GBV disproportionately affects women and girls as 87.54 per cent of the cases were female and 12.46 per cent were male.
“The vulnerability of females increases during times of displacement, crisis and pandemics. Women and girls also often report their cases while the men usually shun from reporting them," Chepsiror said.
The Centre for Gender and Development supported by Mastercard Foundation strengthened support and services to SGBV survivors by offering institutional support to the county referral hospitals.
It has a a toll-free helpline, 1195, where people can report. It also offers support through county administration — police stations and safe shelters in Busia, Kajiado and Kwale counties, he said.
The recovery centres are safe spaces where survivors can get support including medical attention and psychosocial support, connecting survivors them with referral pathways whenever they report.
Further, some survivors are provided with an in-kind grant that aids them rebuilding their lives and following up with referral services.
(Edited by V. Graham)