Girl: I was assaulted at Nairobi Women's Hospital
The Mombasa branch of Nairobi Women's Hospital, where an employee is suspected of sexually assaulting a primary-school girl. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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She added that when she walked into the lab, the man told her that she was still sick, based on the blood samples he had taken earlier.
“He then closed the door and said I should get a massage. He began from my neck and then started touching my private parts,” the girl said.
Nairobi Women's Hospital says lab technician has been suspended.
A hospital in Mombasa is on the spot following reports that a laboratory technician sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl.
According to reports, the employee of Nairobi Women’s Hospital attempted to defile the girl, who had been admitted for malaria and back pain last week.
On Tuesday, the Standard Eight pupil said the man called her to the laboratory around midnight on Thursday “for medication”.
ABUSED
“He came and asked if I was still in pain. He then told me to go to the laboratory,” the girl said in a written statement.
She added that when she walked into the lab, the man told her that she was still sick, based on the blood samples he had taken earlier.
“He then closed the door and said I should get a massage. He began from my neck and then started touching my private parts,” the girl said.
She added that when she protested, the lab technician told her that he was doing so to reduce her pain.
The girl said she at that point thought of screaming, but knew it would be futile “as it is normal for people to cry in hospital”.
She added that the man then opened the door and, after confirming there were no people on the corridor, released her. He instructed her to say she was at the reception watching TV if asked by the nurse in charge or anyone else.
However, the child immediately reported the incident to the nurse in charge.
“I went to the laboratory with her. The man at first denied it but admitted his mistake when pressed. I was then told to write a report by the hospital management,” she said.
Her mother said the assault took place on the night she left the girl at the hospital, where she was recuperating.
When she went back the following morning, her daughter told her what had happened.
MEDICAL REPORT
The woman later reported the incident at Central Police Station.
According to doctors who examined the girl at Coast Provincial General Hospital, she had been sexually assaulted.
When the Nation team visited the hospital on Tuesday, the management admitted that the incident took place, adding that it was co-operating with the investigating officers.
This was after the technician was arrested and an investigation file opened.
In a statement, the hospital said it had suspended the employee as police took over the matter.
“The behaviour of the staff member goes against our core values, professional ethics and policies on anti-gender based violence at the workplace and beyond,” read the statement signed by Nairobi Women’s Hospital Mombasa branch manager Rose Obiero.
