The Kenyan society has witnessed the preferential treatment that was given to a 28-year-old Naftali Kinuthia, who was rescued by police from a mob that could have bashed him to death after brutally hacking Ivy with an axe.
The man, who clearly planned the heinous act from Thika and even made a stop to buy the murder weapon, will now receive treatment at the very hospital he denied the services of university student Ivy Wangechi, where she was working.
He had emergency surgery, CT scan and his wounds dressed, as stated by Moi Training and Referral Hospital CEO Wilson Aruasa. The problem is not even the treatment of the perpetrator but if the taxpayers would shoulder the cost of treatment.
The late Wagechi, 25, would have graduated in December to become one of the most needed people in the country. The hypocrisy of our society to vilify the victim even in death brings even more pain to her family; her mother who described her as her “sweetest Ivy” who would bring her presents whenever she visited.
How many women have to die because a man somewhere believes he is entitled to her love and attention? The female gender has become an endangered species in this generation. Femicide has to stop.
According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, 37 per cent of women have experienced physical violence. 45 per cent of women aged between 15-49 have experienced physical violence; physical or sexual. To reduce femicide, train the police to identify cases of gender victimisation and romantic assault, which is hidden under the title of relationship.
The path of justice must be followed and preventive strategies embraced to protect the female gender from their closest allies and family.
Nairobi
