Courts asked to conclude gender violence cases in six months

Seeking justice upon rape or defilement can be a tiresome process for a survivor. Cases lag in court for years, a delay that puts off survivors from reporting and filing civil lawsuit against the perpetrators.

Of the major proposals anti-sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) advocates are championing for, is conclusion of the cases in six months.

This is alongside establishing special SGBV courts to expedite prosecution of the related offences as well as educating all gender on their rights in order to speak up.

“Concluding the court cases in six months could encourage the survivors to report. The cases run up to 10 years and so people give up,” said Ms Sophy Onyino, a legal officer at Women Challenged to Challenge, said during an April 15, webinar on SGBV interventions during Covid-19.

It was organised by Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (Fida-Kenya).

“Most do not report because they feel the process is so long and at the end of the day, justice is not served,” she added.

While special SGBV courts could be a reprieve, she said their establishment and anti-SGBV awareness, especially among the women with disability should be done simultaneously.

Otherwise, the courts will be underutilised because women will still shy away from reporting owing to ignorance and fear of stigma, she said.

The awareness should, however, be accompanied with empowering the women economically. She noted that women who still depend on the perpetrators for financial support are bound to look over the violations.

Intellectual disability

“(They ask themselves) if this person is convicted, who is to provide for us? Who is going to pay the children’s school fees?” she said.

It is challenging though, to successfully prosecute cases involving persons with disabilities due to the complexities of collecting evidence.

“(In a SGBV case) you are supposed to identify the perpetrator and provide  the evidence...but a blind girl will not be able to identify the person who attacked her…(again)people with intellectual disability will not remember what happened,” she said.

Coast General Hospital GBV Centre, Nurse-in-Charge Ms Saida Mwinyi, said speedy conclusion of the SGBV cases could eliminate possibilities of out-of-court settlements, which disfavour the survivors.

“It is our cry that SGBV cases be concluded within a period of six months. There is a lot of mischief that goes on in the community (which hinders continuation of the cases),” she said.

Of her worry is that often sexually assaulted teenagers and women with disabilities turn up for medical check-up when they are already pregnant.

 “We have cases of mentally challenged women who come when they are already pregnant and there is nothing you can do,” she said.

“You only have to counsel the relatives because if she has severe mental impairment with no source and she does not know who will take care of the child; then you have to counsel them and establish the person who will be responsible for her care and the child.”

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