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By Francis Ngige
Cases of sexual assaults have risen sharply in the North Rift region.
This is attested to by the number of cases being filed in court over rape and defilement as well as ongoing convictions of the sex pests
A Task Force on the Implementation of Sexual Offence Act for instance recently rated Trans-Nzoia County as the leading culprit in the country.
Its report cites Kitale Police Station that registered 35 cases of rape and defilement in May, June and July alone. But according to the local rights organisations, most cases are not usually reported.
The revelation was made during a stakeholder’s forum co-organised by the Task Force and Chanuka programme, a Kitale based Non-Governmental Organisation recently.
Chanuka Programme highlighted culture as the major contributing cause to rise in sex abuse.
Retired Judge Lady Justice Effie Owour said rampant cases of abuse in Trans-Nzoia were shocking and embarrassing.
Owour said this was shameful for a region credited as the country’s bread basket and with a lot of economic potential.
“It is indeed regrettable and shameful for a county like Trans-Nzoia prided for its economic potentials to register such vices. Offenders should know that stiff penalties await them when caught,” she said.
In courts in Trans Nzoia, Nandi and Baringo counties, perpetrators were found to be close relatives of the victims, in some cases young boys and older men. In Nandi, a 53-year-old father was last month imprisoned for life after he was found guilty of defiling his nine-year-old daughter.
Kapsabet Senior Resident Magistrate Richard Koech handed the sentence to man after he was found guilty of defiling the minor several times on diverse dates two years ago.
In Baringo, a 22-year-old-man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for defiling a 14-year-old Standard Six girl
The accused, Rongino Ezra Kemboi was charged with two counts of defilement in violation of Section 8(1) as read with Section 8(3) of the sexual offenses Act No. 3 of 2006 and indecent Act with a child contrary to Section 2 (1).
Soiling names
More recently, a 12-year-old mentally retarded girl was admitted to Kitale District Hospital after a defilement ordeal.
The Class Two pupil at a Webuye-based special needs school, had just come home for medical attention when the sex pest struck.
Chanuka Programme Co-ordinator, Mr Anderson Mwenesi, blamed culture and poverty for the rising cases of the sex abuse in the region.
He said rape and defilement cases in Trans Nzoia County stand at 60 per cent and called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to tackle the vice.
“A day barely passes without a rape or defilement case being reported here. Culture and poverty has fueled the vice. This situation should be controlled,” he said.
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