Tobiko orders fresh probe into Busia rape case

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

ashiundu@standardmedia.co.ke

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko now wants a fresh inquest into the rape of a teenage girl in a village in Busia.

Tobiko said he has instructed the Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro to form a team of senior police officers from Nairobi “preferably female” to investigate the rape case that has grabbed both local and international headlines.

It’s Muhoro’s duty to make sure that the officers sent to do the investigations are “well-equipped and knowledgeable in matters of sexual and gender-based violence”.

“The new team is expected to review the file, re- investigate the case, re-interview witnesses; and prepare a comprehensive report with findings,” Tobiko noted in a statement released early Saturday.

He added: “The services of a psychologist who has experience, skills, knowledge and expertise in traumatised sex victims should examine the complainant to assess and in particular, give an opinion on whether it is normal, in cases such as this, for a victim to report after a long time”.

The DPP said he had a file on the case from the Busia office, and that he had formed a special team to review the case. He asked the women lawyers from the Federation of Women Lawyers and Coalition for Violence against Women to join his team in reviewing the case.

Tobiko is of the view that Muhoro’s team will have to work with the team he has appointed in Nairobi to make sure that the process was watertight. He expects the team to complete the job within 21 days.

For now, he says, the police should make sure that all suspects linked to the rape are arrested and charged for “causing grievous harm”.

The teenage rape victim is known by the pseudonym “Liz” and is now consigned to a wheelchair.