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A 14-year-old orphan who was defiled at Tigoni Police Station early last month is now pregnant, The Nairobian can reveal.
On October 3, Purity was taken into protective custody at Tigoni Police Station as she was being processed for admission into a children’s home.
According to a source who spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, a female officer who was on duty did not intervene because she thought “the girl’s cries for help were just the usual noise suspects in custody make at night out of boredom”.
“Purity has no guardians, so she was to be taken into a home, or released to adoptive parents. So she was not in the police station as a criminal, but as a ward of state. That is, the state had taken responsibility for her legal protection (often in the case of children or incapacitated persons),” our source explained.
Purity was eventually taken to Kiambu Children’s Remand Home (Kirigiti Girls Centre), where she reported the matter and was rushed to hospital.
“After she narrated her ordeal in the cells, guardians at the centre took her to Kiambu Hospital, but because it was a sexual assault case, the hospital demanded a police OB first,” another source familiar with the case explained.
At Kiambu, the ping-pong games started as the case could only be reported at Tigoni, the station where the crime occurred.
But Tigoni police refused to record the matter in their Occurrence Book. So, the frustrated guardians from the children’s home went back to Kiambu Police Station, where an officer from the gender desk recorded an incident to enable them get an OB number to facilitate the girl’s treatment.
“They were warned that the OB number was strictly to help the girl get treatment because it was against procedure to record a statement in a station where the incident didn’t happen.
A senior police boss from Kiambu called and instructed Tigoni police to record the girl’s statement,” our source said, adding that it is at Kiambu Hospital that the minor was confirmed to be pregnant.
Eventually, 13 days after the rape, Tigoni police finally agreed to record the case in their Occurrence Book and take a statement from the minor.
OB 11/16/2018 recorded at 0830 hours reads: “A female remandee aged 14 years, who was being held in the cells for being a child in need of care and protection, was at unknown time of the night sexually assaulted within the cells.
She alleges to have reported the matter at Kirigiti Children’s Home and later a report was booked at Kiambu Police Station and she was taken to Kiambu County Hospital for medical assessment. Now needs police assistance and the matter is under investigation.”
When reached for comment, Tigoni OCPD Eunice Githure said she was not aware of the incident.
“I will conduct investigations and get to the bottom of this matter. I will call you tomorrow with my final conclusion on this case,” she promised.
Tigoni Police Station OCS Asava Ronald also denied knowledge of the incident.
“I am not aware that such a thing happened. Please let me consult and get back to you by tomorrow,” was his response to our enquiries.
The officer in charge of crime at Tigoni, Sergeant Sebastian Kalawa Marena said, “I am a very junior person here. In the first place, I am not even allowed to talk to the media. Please call my bosses. They will give you the correct position. I am sorry I can’t help you.”
Curiously, when The Nairobian visited Kiambu Children’s Remand Home, officer in charge Lenah Sitati confirmed that the minor was indeed in their custody and that the matter was being handled by the OCS of Tigoni Police Station.
“All I can confirm is that the girl is under our custody and that she is safe. I only received a call from the OCS that the girl was to be brought here. I cannot comment on the defilement allegations,” said Sitati.
Our pleas to interview the minor were turned down because she was “undergoing counselling and because it was not in her best interest to discuss the allegations with the press.”
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