OCS ‘assaulted’ rights activist helping family in defilement case
Police officers at the Baringo County Referral Hospital when they took a Form Three girl from Kerio Valley for medical tests after being allegedly defiled.
Drama unfolded on Monday at Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet after a senior police officer allegedly assaulted and threatened a human rights activist and a relative of a child who had been defiled.
According to the relative, the Form Three girl at a secondary school in the Kerio Valley was grabbed at 10pm on Saturday by a herder, who took her to his house and defiled her.
The girl was reportedly sent home for school fees on Friday only for relatives to discover that she was not at home that night. They mobilised locals and started searching for her.
The relative said they had received a tip that she had been seen “in the company of a man who works for a county government senior official as a herder. It was true, she was found with the suspect”.
George Otieno, the Kinyach Police Station commander (OCS), responded to calls by the local chief and took the suspect and the girl to record statements.
Sabotage the case
“But we suspected that the officers were trying to sabotage the case when they asked the schoolgirl to confess that the suspect was his boyfriend,” the relative said.
“At some point, we told the officer that the girl needed to undergo some tests first before being taken to court, but he declined, saying he had no fuel to ferry them to Kabarnet.”
At the referral hospital on Monday, the senior officer allegedly assaulted and threatened a human rights activist and a relative of the victim, telling them to stay away or face dire consequences.
“The court on Monday ordered the girl to be taken for tests at the hospital. With no female officer to accompany her, I was directed to do so. While at the facility, the OCS threatened me to leave or face arrests, stating that I was not needed around. I was forced to hide in one of the rooms for my safety,” the relative said.
Human rights activists also raised concerns that the suspect was ferried in the same vehicle as the girl. He was also with her when she was taken for tests, conversing freely despite the gravity of the matter.
Isaiah Biwott stated that when they received the reports from the distraught relatives, they went to the hospital to inquire what was happening.
“I asked the OCS why he chased away the female relative who was supposed to assist the minor to undergo the tests because there was no female officer,” said Mr Biwott.
“He became violent and beat me in the presence of dozens of people, and even went ahead to issue threats that he would kill me.”
The commotion attracted dozens of patients and locals at the facility who thronged the hospital's parking bay to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
The activist later recorded a statement at the Kabarnet Police Station.
Disputed the claims
But Baringo County Police Commander Adamson Bungei disputed the claims of harassment, saying the OCS did his work as required but was instead harassed by locals.
He said the girl’s family did not cooperate with police to produce her birth certificate to determine if she was a minor or not.
“The officer went ahead and accompanied the schoolgirl to court on Monday and sought an order to compel the school’s principal, who had claimed that the birth document was not in the school to produce it because it was a major determinant in the case,” Mr Bungei said.
“If the officer was colluding with the suspect as claimed, he could not have arrested and produced the suspect in court in the first place.”
He also accused human rights activists of harassing the officer and causing a disturbance at the hospital.
“If the activists were accusing the police of incompetence in handling the case, then why did they go to the hospital instead of bringing the matter to the station?” he said.
“We are informed that one of them even went ahead to harass the OCS to the extent of tearing his uniform in the name of seeking justice for the victim.”
