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Distressed family of defiled 14-year-old girl demanding rogue police officer’s arrest


A family in Kitui County is crying for justice following the defilement of a 14-year-old girl by an Administration Police officer.

The policeman later reportedly assaulted the girl’s mother and took the family’s only goat.

The woman said her standard five daughter was taken from Kitoo village in Mutito and made to stay in the man’s house for two weeks.

The mother of four, whose husband is a farmhand in Kisasi, said she was beaten up by the same officer on July 15 when he stormed her house, saying the girl had stolen his bag.

According to the woman, the AP constable stormed her house before 6am armed with a pistol. She said he threatened to shoot her if she stopped him from ransacking the house in search of the bag.

“I was woken up by the banging on the door. When I got out, the officer demanded a bag that I knew nothing about,” she said.

“My husband was away and I was still in shock for I had not seen my daughter for two weeks.”

When the Nation visited the woman at her house on Tuesday, she cried while recounting how she could not relate the connection between her missing daughter and the policeman’s bag.

DEFILED

The woman added that she instinctively became aware that the constable knew of her daughter’s whereabouts.

“When my other children saw the armed officer shouting at me, they started crying. He then grabbed our only goat, saying it would compensate for the lost bag,” the woman said.

The woman added that as she tried to stop the policeman from taking her animal, he rained blows on her.

“The police officer said he would sell the goat,” the woman said.

Distressed, the woman went to Mutito police station hours later where she recorded a statement.

She said her daughter was found with the bag in Kitui town, more than 70 kilometres away. The person who found the girl then informed her parents.

The girl was taken to hospital for examination while the woman was treated for bruises at Mutito Health Centre.

She said it later turned out that the policeman lured the girl to his house at the AP camp as she returned home from school. She remained in his house for two weeks, where he reportedly defiled her.

The woman said her daughter told her the policeman gave her the bag and Sh500 as matatu fare to flee the village.

COVER UP

The girl, who has since recorded statements with police, admitted that she was in the camp for the two weeks and was not allowed to get out of the house.

She said he made her board a matatu that leaves for Kitui town at 4am and that the police officer promised to join her later.

Three days after the beating, the woman’s goat was found at the policeman’s compound. Police took photographs of the animal as exhibit before releasing it to the woman.

“The OCS told me to take the goat home because there was no space for it at the police station,” she said, adding that the police are reluctant to take action against their colleague. She said police officers do not want to file defilement, assault and robbery charges against the constable.

The woman said she believes the AP officer cooked up the stolen bag story to intimidate the family.

“I fear we may not get justice since police do not want to arrest him. The family now feels vulnerable. We are too poor to pursue the matter,” the woman said.

Contacted, Mutito OCPD Samuel Ndegwa said the issue is under investigation and denied claims of a cover up.

“We have opened a file and we’ll take it to the Director of Public Prosecutions to determine if the charges on the officer stand,” he said.