Rape Case Sparks Outcry in Kenya

Updated Oct. 31, 2013 3:43 p.m. ET

Hundreds of women protest after a teenager was allegedly gang-raped in June and no one was jailed, at a demonstration in the capital Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday. Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya—More than 300 protesters demonstrated on the streets of the Kenyan capital on Thursday after men accused of raping a 16-year old girl were ordered to cut grass instead of serving time in jail.
The incident, which follows a gang-rape case in India that sparked global outrage, shows how Kenya is also grappling with how to deliver justice for victims of gender violence despite strides toward a more open and accountable democracy.
The group of mostly female protesters marched to the office of Kenya’s police inspector general in downtown Nairobi, shouting “We want justice! We want it now!” as they filled downtown Nairobi streets. They carried with them a petition with 1.3 million signatures from a host of countries that was circulated by the online activist group Avaaz. The petition called for the arrest and prosecution of the accused rapists and disciplinary action against the police officers who delivered the mild punishment.
“Nobody has been brought to justice—not the rapists, and not the police,” said Avaaz, which provides an online platform for a broad range of causes.
The inspector general’s chief of staff came out to meet with the women and said the office is investigating the incident, said Nebila Abdulmelik, one of the organizers of the protest who works for a Kenyan women’s group, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network. He arranged a meeting with the organizers of the protest on Friday.
The teenage Kenyan girl, who hasn’t been publicly named, was attacked in June as she was walking home from her grandfather’s funeral in the country’s western Busia county, said Saida Ali, the executive director of Kenya’s Coalition on Violence Against Women, which has talked to both the girl’s family and local police.

Women hold up underwear during a march Thursday in Nairobi to protest lenient treatment given to six men who allegedly raped a teenage girl. European Pressphoto Agency

Six men ambushed the girl then took turns raping her. She lost consciousness and the men threw her body into a pit toilet, Ms. Ali said. When the girl regained consciousness, she climbed out of the latrine and shouted for help until she was rescued. Ms. Ali said the girl has been hospitalized for the past three months undergoing surgeries and physical therapy.
When the girl reported the assault the next day and identified three of her attackers by name, police summoned the men for questioning and asked the girl to recount what happened in front of her attackers. She was frightened and so didn’t mention the rape, Ms. Ali said, only that the men beat her and threw her into the latrine.
The men were told to pay for some pain medicine for the girl and mow the grass at the police station as punishment, she said.
When the girl’s mother returned the next day to explain that the men had raped her daughter, the police told her that it didn’t matter because the case was already settled, Ms. Ali said.
Shadrack Bundi, a county police official, said police there had investigated the case and forwarded their findings to the government prosecutor. He declined to give the results of the investigation or to comment further on the case.
Rape has long been a large problem in Kenya. In a 2010 survey by the United Nations and the Kenyan government, about 24% of women who had sex before age 18 said they were pressured or forced to do so.
The punishment of mowing the grass was insulting to women and indicative of the Kenyan government’s response to sexual violence, Ms. Abdulmelik said.
“It shows how little we care about a woman’s bodily integrity, and how we consider rape,” she said. “We don’t take it seriously.”
Write to Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com

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