Creaw Portal

Naivasha gains notoriety as defilers' den widens

BY ANTONY GITONGA

FIRST it was her brother who called her into the smoky muddy hut and defiled her. It was a cold Sunday morning and their father was in church.

Too scared to scream, the 12 ­year-old girl lay still as her 20-year old brother, a mortuary attendant, threatened to kill her if she revealed the incident.

Her brothers' friends also defiled her and continued their beastly act for six months. The girl was infected with a venereal disease and when it became too difficult for her to walk, she revealed to her grandmother what had been happening.

Medical tests at the Naivasha Dis­trict Hospital confirmed the girl, a class four pupil in Kinangop, had . gonorrhea. Her brother and his four

friends were arrested.

Not too far from where the 12 year ­old sat at the district hospital was another little girl aged five, whose hands had been seared by a hot knife for allegedly stealing five shil­lings meant.

Despite screams of pain, her step­mother sprinkled salty water in the girl's wounds to "teach her a les­son".

Elsewhere at the hospital, a 13­year- old semi- conscious girl lies on a stretcher. A charcoal dealer-cum pastor in South Kinangop had defiled her after her mother sent her to buy salt from a nearby shopping centre. Angered by the teenagers "delayed return", the girl's mother burnt the girl's private parts as punishment,

These cases are a small fraction of the kind of abuse meted out on chil­dren in Naivasha and Kinangop.

• There are more than 80 cases of rape, defilement and sodomy pending in Naivasha courts
• In 2006, there were 26 rape cases reported but rose sharply to 62 last year
• The use of drugs including bhang contribute to sexual abuse in rural areas

There are more than 80 rape, sod­o~y and defilement cases pending ill Nalvasha courts (majority are from Kinangop), with two to three cases of defilement recorded weekly from Naivasha and' Nyandarua North dis­tricts.

According to statistics from Naiva­sha Disadvantaged Support Group, sexual abuse victims have increased in the last two years.

In 2006, the group recorded 21 cases from Naivasha andKinangop areas but the figure rose to 62 last year.

Nine cases have been reported this year although January to March cases were not recorded due to the . post-election violence in Naivasha,

The group's chairperson, Ms Rahab Wairuri, says Nyandarua District and Mill Mahiu continue to record high cases of sexual abuse.

"The most affected are the children aged between four and 12. They fear

exposing the culprits after being threatened," says Wairuri.

Then there is also HIV/Aids, which has taken toll on widowers who are now turning to their daughters.

Sister Florence Muia, from Upendo village, attributes sexual abuse cases to the collapse in moral values.

She says the stlgrnatisatlon that went with rape is diminishing since many rape survivors now report the incidents.

The mm says use of drugs, such as bhang, contribute to sexual abuse cases in rural areas. Even more sur­prising is that majority of defilement cases occur in poor families. .

She, however, denies that NaivaSha is a hub of rapists and defilers.

"Due to the free legal- services counselling and medical assistanc~ we give, many people are coming for treatment before it is too late," she says.

The organisation has also received 12 cases of sodomy in Kinangop. A children's desk has been set up at

. the police station. Naivasha Officer Commanding Police Division, Mr Willy Lugusa, says several culprits have been arraigned in court.

Lugusa says Naivasha District Hos­pital and law courts serve residents of Kinangop, Gilgil, Mai Mahlu and Naivasha a move which paints the town negatively due to cases from the other towns.

A senior medical officer at the Naivasha District Hospital says the hospital receives between two and three sexual abuse cases weekly.

"Some years back we would receive the same number after two to three weeks but things have changed," he says.