Kenya protest over ‘grass cutter’ gang rape case

BUSIA, Kenya – Hundreds of protesters marched through a Kenyan town on June 23, Monday,  demanding justice for a schoolgirl who was brutally gang raped, ahead of the trial of suspects who were originally punished by being made to cut grass.

“We have come out to demand justice for our girls,” said Jennifer Lucheli, 45, mother of five, as she marched through the streets of Busia in western Kenya, near the border with Uganda. (READ: Ending warzone rape)

Worldwide outrage over the punishment last year prompted more than 1.7 million people to sign a petition demanding justice, and protestors handed over the huge list of names to the local government commissioner. (READ: Remembering the rape of Rosario Baluyot)

The protest came on the eve of the trial of one of the suspects. (READ: Pakistani woman raped and hanged)

The 16-year-old victim, known by the pseudonym Liz, was reportedly attacked, beaten and then raped by six men as she returned from her grandfather’s funeral in western Kenya in June 2013.

The gang dumped her, bleeding and unconscious, in a deep sewage ditch.

She suffered a broken back, caused either by the beating or by being hurled down into the pit, as well as serious internal injuries from the rape.

The case made global headlines after it emerged that three of the alleged rapists whom Liz identified were ordered by police to cut grass around the police station as punishment.

Police chief David Kimaiyo later cast doubt on Liz’s testimony, saying in November that the time between her screams for help and villagers coming to her rescue was “too short for six assailants to have gang raped her.”

Rape cases ‘rampant’

But the public prosecutor then ordered the suspects to be charged with gang rape.

The other suspects are reported to be on the run, with the public prosecutor ordering they be “apprehended and brought to justice without further delay.”

“Rape has been so rampant in this area that we can’t sit back, we need to stop the appalling criminal act,” said Joy Musumba, 25, holding a placard that read “slashing grass is not punishment for rape.”

Business at the usually busy border town came to a standstill as residents and traders were caught by surprise by the protest, with men on motorbike taxis joining the march, honking horns as they drove alongside.

“We demand justice for Liz,” placards carried by the protestors read. “Liz is just like me,” another sign read.

Rape is a serious problem in Kenya but is seldom taken seriously by the police, rights groups say.

Kenya’s civilian police oversight body has promised it would also investigate the “conduct of the police officers who mishandled the initial report made by Liz”.

Campaigners warned the problem of rape was far wider than the disturbing case of Liz alone.

Mary Makokha, director of the local Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme, said there had been over 8,000 rape cases reported in the local area in the past four years, but that witnesses were reluctant to come forward.

“Some witnesses have been threatened and others bribed,” she said.

Joan Nyanyuki, chief of Kenya’s Coalition On Violence Against Women (COVAW), warned that areas around the town had “developed a culture of bribery where parents accept money as ‘compensation’ to drop allegations of rape of their daughters.”

“Women are the cradle of mankind and if they will be attacked and stay silent, this vice will never end,” she said.

One mother at the protest said her 12-year old daughter was gang raped last year, but said police had not taken the matter seriously.

“The police didn’t cooperate and they seemed to intimidate witnesses, so no one came forward,” said the woman, who asked not to be named to protect the identity of her child.

“As a mother, I feel unsafe, and I wish the government could come up with a mechanism to help us as we are vulnerable,” she said. – Rappler.com