Shock as Form One student defiled by police officer in cell

A family in Kakamega County is in shock after their 16-year-old daughter, a Form One student in Khwisero Sub County, was defiled by a police officer in a cell.

The officer allegedly went to a room where the girl and her friend were being held at night and asked her to follow him, claiming that her mother had come to see her.

He then took the girl to another room and asked her to undress before repeatedly defiling her with condoms.

The girl was arrested on 28 April and locked up at Khwisero police station with a friend who had accompanied her to meet her boyfriend.

After a search, her parents found her at her boyfriend's house and called the police to arrest her.

The girl's father reportedly asked the police officers to lock her up in the police station as punishment for sneaking out of the house.

He was horrified when he heard what had happened to his daughter.

The girl and her friend were remanded in custody as children in need of care and protection after their arrest.

Ms Vivian Ayuma, the county's director of social services, children's services, culture and gender, said the police officer had not been arrested.

"This is a very sad matter that has been swept under the carpet. We are calling for a full investigation into this sad incident. We need this officer to be charged for inflicting such pain on the girl and ruining her life," said Ms Ayuma.

A Senior Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr John Gachomo, who attended the handing over of a child protection unit in Matete Sub County in Kakamega, said the incident will be fully investigated and the errant officer will be prosecuted for the offence.

Mr Gachomo, who is the Director of Community Policing, Gender and Child Protection, said the officer involved in defiling the girl would face the law.

Elsewhere, police in Khwisero are investigating an incident in which a group of gold miners on Monday slashed their colleague to death and threw his body into the Yala River after accusing him of sneaking back to the mine at night.

The gold miner, identified as Benjamin Opunde, 26, was from Mwirembe village.

His colleagues reportedly attacked him with machetes after an argument and later threw his body into the river.

The search for his body is ongoing. Villagers who witnessed the incident have given statements to detectives.
[email protected]