On one sunny afternoon on July 14, in Kanyiriri, a 9-year-old girl accompanied her peers to fetch water at the River.
After filling their jerry cans, they headed back home. However, on their way home, the girl was waylaid by a man who lured her back to the river and defiled her.
The defiler also gouged out the minor’s eyes using a sharp object leaving her for dead. Her loss of sight deprived her the joy she had started enjoying with her peers in school and also ushered her into a world of uncertainty and desperation.
“I informed the neighbours that my daughter had disappeared and we embarked on a search mission. We found her after nightfall. Blood was oozing from her eyes,” narrated the victim’s father.
The minor was rushed to JM Kariuki Memorial Hospital in Ol Kalou.
He added, at the hospital, we learned that her eyes had been removed. I could not believe that a human being could do this to my innocent child.
Medics at the hospital referred the minor to Kenyatta National Hospital. The matter was reported at kanyiriri police station.
One year later, the family is yet to get justice.
“We were told that a suspect linked to the heinous act had been arrested but efforts to get more information from the police have not bore any fruits, ” lamented the father.
The last time I went to Mirangine police station to enquire about the case they promised to give me a call which they never did,” he lamented.
While demanding justice for her daughter, the minor’s mother accused police of laxity and bungling investigations into the case.
She said many times, her daughter refused to eat and spent time crying. The stigma that my daughter was subjected to was more than what she bargained for.
Contacted, Mirangine Sub County Police Commander John Maritim noted that the matter was handed over to the DCI. He promised to make a follow up.
Between July 2021 and 2022, data shows that 21 defilement cases were reported in the county.
