97 women killed over last three months, but DCI says trend is not gender-based
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin.
The National Police Service has revealed that at least 97 women have been killed in the last three months.
This was confirmed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Kipkoech Lagat Wednesday, who raised alarm over the crime wave.
"This troubling trend highlights the urgent need for focused actions and collaboration to tackle the widespread problem of gender-based violence in our society,” he said.
He noted with concern that there has been a significant increase in the number of murders and manslaughters in the country over the last two years.
However, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin, who was also present at the press briefing in Nairobi, appeared to contradict him on the subject of femicide. He qualified the statistic by insisting that the crime wave is not gender-targeted.
“We are not saying there is a deliberate effort to target women. Majority of the cases that we investigated, the motive is purely criminal. There was no intention to specifically target members of the female gender," DCI Amin said.
"Let the gender not feel they are being targeted by these criminals...It is not that there are people hell-bent on killing our mothers, killing our daughters, killing our sisters,” he added.
Suspects in Eastleigh triple murders 'to be arrested soon'
The late Waris Daud (left) and her niece, Amina Abdirashid Dhahir.
One of the most recent cases of femicide involves the murder of three women in Eastleigh last week.
The DCI boss said sleuths have identified the persons behind the murder and “are closing in on them and very soon they will be arrested and prosecuted.”
The three women: Waris Daud (38), her daughter Nuseiba Dahir (12) and niece Amina Abdirashad (23) went missing on Monday October 21, 2024, before their bodies were discovered hours later with injuries on their hands, neck and back in Parklands, Bahati and Chumvi (Machakos County).
“My appeal is that there should be no panic, no cause for alarm at all. Nobody is specifically targeting women and as for the criminals, we are hot on their heels...within no time, we shall apprehend them and they will face the full force of the law,” he said.
'Traumatising'
Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary Anne Wang’ombe recently termed the recent wave of brutal murders of women in the country as “traumatising”, saying they paint a grim picture of the return of femicide to the society.
“Not only do these horrific events devastate families but also shake the community as a whole making people live in fear and anxiety ever worrying about their safety and that of their loved ones,” she said.
With the right to live being enshrined under the constitution, Ms Wang’ombe said, the government is committed to safeguarding the life of every person regardless of their gender.
Wells Fargo boss
The late Willis Ayieko was the Head of Human Resource (HR) at Wells Fargo.
DCI Amin also shared an update on the murder of Wells Fargo Human Resources Director Willis Ayieko, whose body was found badly mutilated at a shallow river in Gem, Siaya County.
So far, two suspects linked to the killing have been arrested with Ayieko’s lost firearm also being recovered.
He revealed that police believe a gang of six to seven people were involved in the crime.
“The investigation is still at an infantile stage...we cannot conclusively say we have established the motive behind the killing of Ayieko, but in the fullness of time, we will be able to unearth what really motivated those criminals,” he said.
