15-man gang rapes two sisters, forces their father to watch

Two sisters were on Friday gang raped by a group of men at Wayu village in Bura.

The girls aged 16 and 23, who were attacked by a group of about 15 men, are now admitted to the Garissa Referral Hospital where they are nursing severe injuries and trauma.

Speaking of their ordeal, the girls said they were with their elderly father when the attack happened and that their assailants tied him to a tree and forced him to watch.

“The three of us were walking in the bushes looking for our lost camels when we met the group of men. They had crude weapons in their possession but we thought they were herders going about their normal business,” one of the girls said.

She said they discovered the men were up to no good when they set upon their father.

HAPLESS VICTIMS

“They wrestled him to the ground then tied him on an acacia tree as though he was a cow before surrounding us and ordering us to undress,” she said.

The elder girl said they hesitated and this enraged the gang who forcibly undressed her first before raping her under her father and younger sister’s watch.

She said her distressed father pleaded with the men to stop at some point even asking them to kill him instead of subjecting him to the pain of watching them harm his daughters.

“I was about to raise a distress alarm when I felt strong hands cover my mouth before I was dragged to the thorny ground. Another group then descended on my already traumatised younger sister. They also wrestled her to the ground and repeatedly raped her like they were doing to me,” the emotional girl recounted.

Visibly writhing in pain the younger victim interjects: “These men sub-divided themselves into two groups and started raping us in turn. Some would hold our legs to ensure they remained pressed down on the ground while one raped us then they would interchange. Once they were done, they then swapped us.”

The two girls, who said they can positively identify their attackers, said their father has been admitted at Bura Tana dispensary after developing some complications.

A police P3 form and medical report from Bura dispensary, where they were attended to before being transferred for specialised treatment, confirms that the rape ordeal was meted against the girls.

The attack has sparked anger and condemnation from a cross-section of human right activists and leaders with those who visited them at the Garissa Referral Hospital calling on the police to immediately apprehend the suspects.

Children rights activist Ibrahim Aden said it is totally unacceptable to treat this beastly act casually.

He asked both the police and the local administration to investigate the matter with the urgency it deserves in order to ensure the culprits face the full force of the law.

“These girls are very traumatised because of what they underwent at the hands of their assailants. This matter should not be brought for resolution before village elders. These culprits must pay for their heinous crimes as provided by the law,” he said.