Brenda Wawire
KAKAMEGA, Kenya, May 25- A family is in anguish after their daughter who was defiled and physically injured succumbed while undergoing treatment in hospital.
The 9-year-old girl from Mitoma Sub-location in Butere is said to have been defiled by a person known to her, relatives told Shahidi News.
The girl was identified as Sharon Angulu Akungwi.
She had been admitted at the Kakamega County General hospital and succumbed to injuries four weeks after the beastly attack against her.
“She had severe injuries,” a medic at the hospital told Shahidi News. The medic sought anonymity.
Her father, Alfred Murenga said already the incident was reported to police.
Before she died, the girl is said to have mentioned a 20-year-old man to the police.
The incident occurred on April 25, 2022 at 3pm.
The deceased was heading to her mother’s posho mill when she was attacked by the 20-year-old suspect.
“She was dragged to a nearby sugarcane plantation and defiled. The suspect left her there after committing the inhumane act,” the father said.
The suspect has since been arrested by police and is in custody pending conclusion of investigations.
A person who commits an offence of defilement with a child aged eleven years or less shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life according to the law.
Sexual offences remain a major challenge that Kenya is facing.
Sexual offences have adverse effects of derailing not only ones legal, social and economic development but also that of the country as a whole.
There is a high prevalence of gender-based violence in Kenya.
Sexual violence is one of the manifestations of gender-based violence.
Sexual violence takes many forms, including rape, sexual assault, defilement, incest, and many others.
This type of violence is a reflection of gender inequality in a society where mostly men exercise power over women and girls.
The Sexual Offences Act, 2006 was passed in order to deal with the problem of sexual violence since sexual offences were previously governed by the Penal Code.
Section 36 of the Sexual Offences Act provides that where a person is charged with committing an offence under this Act, the court may direct that an appropriate sample or samples be taken from the accused person, at such place and subject to such conditions as the court may direct for the purpose of forensic and other scientific testing, including a DNA test, in order to gather evidence and to ascertain whether or not the accused person committed an offence.
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