Sally (not her real name) was going to a cyber in Kiamaiko at about 11.30am on June 12 when a man approached her and led her to another man who was waiting in a car.
The man, an Ethiopian national identified as Hido Legese Hido, and the driver abducted her and drove her to Paradise Lost. The driver left her with Hido who raped her for about an hour.
Her pictures were forcibly taken, and she was told they would prove the action. The two later drove Sally to Blue Springs Hotel along Thika Road, where a room had been pre-booked by a third party, Warku Dawe Walde, on the day of the abduction. She was raped again.
Hido later dumped Sally at Huruma police station after he got wind that police were looking for the victim.
Sally reported the incident at the station on June 14. She recorded a statement and was taken to the hospital where a Post Rape Care (PRC) Form was filled.
Hido was later charged with rape at the Makadara law courts.
The case, however, took a different turn when one day, an investigating officer called Sally on her mother’s phone on June 19, informing her that her case could not hold water.
The investigating officer in the presence of two colleagues informed her that her first statement wasn’t strong enough and as a matter of fact, the DPP would not charge Hido. She said that her statement would either be used against her or be completely disregarded.
She informed her that she had data from Safaricom and there was no way she could claim she had been abducted and raped. The investigating officer offered to write a statement which she alleged would be stronger.
The officer told Sally, “Mimi ni mwanamke na najaribu kukusaidia kama mama” (I am a woman, and I am trying to help you as a mother).
Convinced that the officer was acting in her best interest, Sally agreed to be assisted. After the police officer was done writing the statement, she asked her to sign. Sally signed it without reading what had been written since she believed that it was made in her best interest
Chepkirui Koech and Associate Advocates representing Sally in the matter after being informed of the events, wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions, seeking to stop police interference in the case.
Koech said the actions by the investigating officer were tantamount to coercion of the victim and this has led to unprecedented delays in charging the suspect in court.
“It was later on, after accessing the file during the mention of the miscellaneous application, that we noted the huge discrepancy in her statements dated June 19 and June 14. Upon inquiring from the victim why there was a change in her statement, she brought the aforementioned facts to us,” wrote the lawyer in a letter dated July 17.
The lawyers said on July 7, they visited the DCIO Pangani in an attempt to address the complaints, but he told them there was nothing he could do since the file had been forwarded to the ODPP for perusal and advice.
On July 15, the investigating officer brought a letter from the ODPP headquarters to court based on Sally’s alleged recanted statement and ordered further investigations.
“The court ordered that the suspect be held for a further seven days so that the police could ascertain his nationality and investigate threats to the victim and her family,” Koech said.
The lawyer expressed his apprehension on the integrity of the investigations into this matter given that the suspect, who might be a flight risk, is in police custody and has not been charged for his crimes on account of the purported recanted testimony of the victim.
Koech asked the DPP to recall the file and authorise officers to press charges under the initial statement recorded.
"We wish to notify you of the grave integrity issues under consideration in the said investigations that fly in the face of procedural justice. Should investigations remain in the hands of the instant officers, we fear that justice will not be served."
“Without directions, the suspect will be released after being held in police custody for 30 days without charges being preferred against him, which is a technicality being relied upon by the investigating team to defeat the wheels of justice,” Koech noted in the letter.
Edited by A.N
