Grass cutting Busia rapists get 15 years in jail
What you need to know:
- The assailants attacked her halfway home. Terrified and alone in the dark, she screamed for help but none came.
- Neighbours who had heard her cries of help — and who, for some reason, did not come to her rescue at the time of the attack — gathered before dawn and mounted a search, which eventually ended at the pit latrine.
Three men were Monday jailed by a Busia court after they were found guilty of raping a primary school girl whose story attracted global attention.
Busia Chief Magistrate Margaret Wambani found Owino Oduor, Fredrick Owin Odhiambo and Vincent Ouma guilty of gang-raping and causing grievous bodily harm to Liz and convicted them to 15 and seven years in jail respectively.
Liz, her family and human rights campaigners welcomed the verdict.
Lawyer Wycliffe Okuta, who represented the three, applied for a stay of the sentence pending appeal.
But Ms Wambani upheld her earlier ruling and ordered the accused to be remanded in prison until their appeal is heard and determined.
"This judgement is a victory for people power, but Liz's case had to be brought kicking and screaming into the courtroom. It proves that Kenyan courts can serve justice to survivors of rape, but only when the horror of the case creates a barrage of global outrage.
"The police must now up their efforts to catch the three men that remain on the run. We hope that today's verdict marks a turning point for Liz and all the survivors of Kenya's rape crisis," said Sam Barratt, campaign director of Avaaz Communications, a global advocacy group that signed more than a million signatures in support of the suit.
Avaaz has targeted the former IG Kimaiyo to take action on the case, supported demonstrations in Busia and Nairobi and followed this case closely.
SUSPECTS AT LARGE
Three other suspects in the case are still at large.
Liz and her mother welcomed the ruling but called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the remaining suspects.
“We are happy that the court has been fair and done justice especially for my daughter who has been subjected to all manner of trauma and indignity,” Liz’s mother told Nation.
She went on: “It has been like a long bad dream that has done a lot of harm to us and turned our lives inside out. Finally, there is hope,” she added.
The teenager said she was happy with the verdict, adding that the attack had left her with “unending backache”.
“I would like to see all of them arrested and locked in. They messed up my life,” said the soft-spoken Standard Eight pupil.
She said she would now focus on passing Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams later in the year.
Human rights organisations Equality Now, Avaaz and Fida Kenya welcomed the ruling but urged police to arrest the remaining suspects.
“Today’s sentencing is sure to have a ripple effect across the nation and hopefully the region. The fact that Liz’s case took so long to reach this point, and still faced serious obstacles despite strong and national global support, illustrates the injustices that are still suffered by survivors in a criminal justice system in transition,’’ said Equality Now legal consultant Kimberly Brown.
Liz, then 16, was accosted by a group of six young men as she returned from her grandfather’s funeral in Tingolo, Busia County, on the night of June 26, 2013.
Liz and her family said that after gang-raping her, they pushed her into a pit latrine before escaping.
Three of the rapists were arrested the following day and taken to Tingolo AP Camp where they were ordered to cut grass after which they were released.
Liz was also punished for “venturing out in the night’’ and was ordered to clean an office at the Administration Police Camp.
The sexual and physical violence left the teenager, then in Standard Seven, wheel-chair bound and with a leaking bladder after developing double obstetric fistula and a spinal injury.
She was eventually admitted to Gyno-Care Fistula Centre in Eldoret. She recovered and returned to school after more than a year out.
Her plight was highlighted by the Daily Nation’s DN2 on October 8, 2013.
The Nation Media Group started a campaign, Stand Up for Liz, Help Her Walk Again, which received support locally and internationally, raising Sh890,000 for her medical kitty.
