Defilement cases on the rise, says DPP report
Police officers conducting forensic examination at the site where a six-year-old from Navakholo in Kakamega County, was defiled, murdered and buried in a shallow grave. The ODPP says cases of defilement are on the rise in the country.
What you need to know:
- Almost five years after her daughter was defiled, Alice Achieng’ is yet to get her justice.
- A new report by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) shows defilement cases are on the rise in the country.
- The report shows a total of 11,366 sexual offences suits were filed in court, with defilement accounting for 6,467 (56.9 per cent).
In 2017, Alice Achieng’ (not her real name) was distraught after discovering that her farmhand had defiled her daughter.
She could not believe that a person she had given a source of livelihood could defile her daughter.
Ms Achieng’ was optimistic that her daughter would get justice after the suspect was arrested and arraigned in court.
Almost five years after the heinous act against the minor, however, Ms Achieng’ tells Nation.Africa that justice for her daughter remains elusive.
Since the suspect was charged with defilement in 2018, the case which has been mired in endless adjournments, has never taken off.
“Whenever the case comes up, it is either the file missing, other times we are taken to the wrong court, while other times the suspect says he had not been issued with witness statements. It is such a frustrating process,” says the distraught mother.
It got to a point where she even decided to stop following up the case as a result of frustrations.
Last year, another family went to a police station in the Nairobi Metropolitan area to report a defilement case. A man had violated their four-year-old daughter and they were determined to pursue justice for her.
Bribed officers
They were, however, shocked that instead of getting help to nail the perpetrator, some police officers asked them to first part with a bribe.
The family would even get more puzzled when some officers tried to prevail upon them to drop the case.
They later learnt the perpetrator had bribed the officers, hence their demand that the case be withdrawn. The police later charged the suspect in court after the family stood their ground.
They would, however, get a major setback after the file soon went missing, never to be found again.
The two cases are just but a tip of the iceberg of the pain parents and guardians have to deal with following defilement of their daughters.
A new report by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) shows defilement cases are on the rise in the country.
The annual report by the ODPP says defilement accounted for the bulk of sexual offences cases filed in court last year.
The report shows a total of 11,366 sexual offences suits were filed in court, with defilement accounting for 6,467 (56.9 per cent).
Other sexual offences that registered high cases include rape attempted rape, gang rape, incest and sexual assault.
Conviction rate among sexual offences category of cases, however, increased by 1.64 per cent from 78.5 per cent in 2019-2020 to 80.14 per cent in 2020-2021.
Indecent act
In 2020, a similar report by the ODPP showed a conviction rate of 78.5 per cent was attained in the 2019/2020 period, a 9.8 per cent increase from an average of 69 per cent conviction rate in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.
Defilement and attempted defilement accounted for 65 per cent of the cases, rape 13.72 per cent, and indecent act with a child 7.8 per cent.
There were 4,088 new cases registered and 1,985 sexual violence-related cases concluded during the period 2019/2020.
In 2020, cases on defilement went up following the closure of schools amid the Covid-19 crisis. The containment measures increased the vulnerability of women and girls owing to confinement at home with their abusers.
Nairobi, Kakamega, Kisumu, Nakuru and Kiambu counties were reported to have the highest prevalence in the country.
Early last month, the Ministry of Health revealed that at least 9,484 children were defiled last year, with many infected with sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV.
Of this, only 43 per cent presented themselves at a health facility within 72 hours as is required. The children were aged 12 to 17 years, according to data entered in the Kenya Health Management Information System, which captures visits to all public health facilities.
In Kenya, defilement of a child between 12 to 15 years carries a sentence of 20 years imprisonment, while defilement of 16-18-year-olds carries a prison sentence of 15 years.
