Settling scores: Sad tales of defilement faked to send innocent men to jail

Ali Said Gawawa is a lucky man after narrowly escaping a 20-year jail term, and rightly so. His tribulations began in 2020 after he was arrested for allegations of defiling a 13-year-old girl. He was 18 at the time.

“I knew the girl. We are from the same village and we were acquainted with each other as our parents were friends – or so we thought,” he says, providing the background that led to his agony.

The girl had been sent to the market by her mother but did not explain what kept her there until 8pm. Ali was working at a barbershop, so the girl, fearing that it was already dark, went to him so that they could go home together.

“She passed by my place of work so that I could walk her home. She was afraid of the dark and what her mother would do to her,” he says.

As he closed the barbershop, the girl’s mother and aunt emerged, and beat the girl, promising to deal with him later, as they left. He took it for a light threat, only for the police to apprehend and arraign him the following day. He was charged with two counts of defilement.

The girl had been coerced and coached to falsely implicate him. “I was released on bail. My mother thought it wise to sell a piece of land,” he tells of how he avoided remand.

Rumours soon made the rounds in their village that he had an intimate relationship with the girl. “I did not know it would become the talk of the village.”

Mothers' fight

Ali says that unbeknownst to him, his mother and the girl’s mother had been embroiled in a longstanding conflict over one man: his father. Having him jailed was a way of getting back at his mother.

“I did not know they were hunting down each other, and neither did I know I was a target in this conflict. My father chose to support my accuser,” he says.

Also read: Man charged with defiling daughter claims wife framed him over affair

It has been three years of a court battle seeking to prove his innocence, with his mother by his side. Ali, represented by lawyer Roseline Hajila, argued that he was being used as a sacrificial lamb. According to Mr Hajila, the defendant was a victim of circumstances, and everything presented before court by the prosecution was fictitious.

“The medical report did not show any signs of defilement and the victim’s witnesses contradicted their testimonies. It was clear that this was a bad script to settle some family scores,” he says.

Two weeks ago, on August 15, Hola senior resident magistrate Benson Kabanga acquitted Ali of the charges. He said the state failed to prove its case as medical reports could not satisfy the defilement claims.

Mr Kabanga further noted that the state did not prove that the defendant had extra hands to facilitate the act. The complainant had told court that Ali used one hand to hold her hands, and another to block her mouth from screaming but did not explain the extra hands used to tear her clothes and forcibly spread her legs.

“Whereas the accuser says she ran to her aunt's home for refuge, her mother says they were with the same aunt when they found her with the boy cleaved in each other's arms,” the magistrate said.

Ali walked home a free man, but with more take-home lessons. He, however, is not the only victim of circumstances that have been framed with defilement to settle family feuds.

Imprisoned

Mohammed Salim, 35, tasted freedom after struggling with his case for 11 years behind bars. He was sentenced to 25 years in jail for 'defiling his niece', an act he claims he never committed but was made up following a conflict between him and his stepbrother.

“My stepbrother married one of my ex-girlfriends who was still very bitter with me for leaving her with a pregnancy years ago. She tried reaching out to me when the child was sick and I could not help. The child died aged four years, and I did not attend the burial,” he recalls.

Three years after the burial, his stepbrother walked home with a heavily pregnant woman. To his surprise, this was his ex-girlfriend. It marked the beginning of his troubles. For two years, they never sat in one place. Little did he know that the ex-girlfriend (then sister-in-law) was plotting against him.

“My niece was 16 then; there was a wedding nearby, so she came late in the night to sleep at my place. I gave her a room, only to hear a knock at my door around 3am. When I opened, a group of women walked in without a word and dragged out my niece, who, by then, was in tears and her dress had bloodstains,” he says.

The girl was taken to hospital, where she was confirmed to have been defiled. The police arrested Mohammed. He tried to prove that he was not responsible, but medical records and the girl’s testimony were 'too compelling' to let him escape conviction.

“I was jailed but kept appealing until 2019 when my niece came out and confessed that I was not responsible for the defilement and revealed everything,” he says.

The family sought to have the court decision reversed. The sister-in-law accepted to go to court and recant her statement but died before she could do so.

“I could not get acquitted, but with a few recorded testimonies by my accusers and the intervention of elders, my sentence was reduced,” he says.

It is barely one-and-a-half years since he walked to freedom. The world, in his own words, is a wicked place. According to him, prisons are holding many innocent men framed with defilement to settle family conflicts.

“A man who would have been Kenya's best president or minister could be in jail for a crime he did not commit. I met very brilliant minds inside there,” he explains.

Concern

Amnesty International activist Daud Dahir concurs that prisons harbour many innocent people. He says many defilement cases in Tana River County are fabricated to settle family feuds.

“We have seen many of these cases failing in court, only to learn it was plotted by some people and rogue policemen and health specialists compromised to fit the script,” he says.

He notes that seven in 10 defilement cases are proved to be driven by malice and blackmail. Mr Dahir recommends that the Judiciary form a review commission to look into such cases to ensure “proper justice”.

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