Police probe case of rape inside Lugulu Girls bathroom

Police in Bungoma are investigating an incident where a student was allegedly defiled inside a bathroom at the Lugulu Girls' national school on Saturday.

On Tuesday, students held demonstrations protesting the defilement.

Bungoma East police boss Valerian Obore asked the students who witnessed the case to present evidence and witness statements to police.

The county quality education assurance officer Caleb Omondi pleaded with the students to return to school as the matter was being addressed.

He promised that police have taken up the matter and the perpetrator will soon be arrested.

"We want you all to be calm and go back to school and go on with your studies since Lugulu is one of the schools that are highly respected by the community," he said.

Mr Omondi described the incident as unfortunate and called for peace as security agents and the school’s administration take action.

Learners' account

The protesting learners said the student was attacked on Saturday morning while taking a bath just before the morning preps.

Learning was paralysed at the school after irate students began the protests on Monday night.

During the protests on Tuesday, the learners said the incident happened about 20 metres from the school staff quarters.

The 306 candidates, who walked for six kilometres from Lugulu to Webuye police station, demanded the immediate arrest of the perpetrator.

The students, who carried placards and sang protest songs, demanded justice, saying their colleague’s future had been ruined.

The man is said to have gagged her with his hands and raped her.

She was only freed when a fellow student appeared in the bathrooms, forcing the assailant to disappear into the darkness.

Other students were woken up by her screams. The students said the school principal had not reported the incident.

The student was only taken to the school's sickbay where nurses administered first-aid to her.

The students wondered how the man could have entered the compound yet the school has a highly secure perimeter wall.

Teachers accused

Addressing the press at Webuye police station, the students said that they were angered by their principal’s inaction after the incident.

The students further accused some teachers in the school and some subordinate staff of sexually harassing them, taking advantage of the low number of students in the school during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bungoma residents and parents at the school led by Mukasa Kilwake condemned the incident, saying that parents were horrified by the incident and called for speedy investigations into the matter.

Efforts to get a comment from the school’s principal were unsuccessful as she neither answered our calls nor responded to messages.

The students demanded that Education CS Prof George Magoha visit the school and address the issue.

They also called for the transfer of the principal and all teachers who have overstayed in the school.

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