Woman raped during Nasa march still in hospital

A woman who was gang-raped in Nairobi on Friday as opposition supporters welcomed coalition leader Raila Odinga is still nursing injuries at Nairobi Women’s Hospital.

The woman was raped inside her M-Pesa shop at Shauri Moyo on Jogoo Road by five men who were part of riotous mobs.

The rapists also looted and vandalised the shop.

CONDEMN
They were among tens of opposition supporters welcoming the National Super Alliance leader during a march after his arrival from a 10-day tour of the US and Europe.

Youth Affairs and Gender Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki visited the woman and condemned the crime, challenging politicians to denounce barbarism.

“The trauma she has gone through cannot be quantified. I urge politicians to implore their supporters to use better channels to voice their discontent,” the CS said.

HUSBAND
Dr Muindi Brian, in charge of the hospital’s clinical services, said:

“The woman underwent psychological suffering and will be receiving treatment for the next three to five days. She is currently out of danger.”

The woman’s husband said: “They attacked her inside an M-Pesa shop and took away all her money and drinks that she sells there.

"She tried running into a nearby hotel but they followed her, dragged her back to the shop, and raped her.”

HOOLIGANS
He said he was called at around 5pm by people who knew his wife and told that she had been molested and taken to hospital.

“If those criminals were after stealing and destroying things, why did they rape my wife? They could have taken the money and other goods and left her alone,” he said.

At her workplace in Burma Market, on Jogoo Road, fellow traders whose businesses were vandalised were slowly rebuilding.

The woman’s M-Pesa shop was still closed, with a gaping incision indicating where the hooligans cut through to get inside.

JUSTICE
Meanwhile, traders at Burma Market on Tuesday demanded justice for their colleague and arrest of the rapists.

“We are very saddened. Why should people do such an act? This is someone we know as we do business together,” a nearby fruit trader said.

Others affected by the chaos that saw Jogoo Road closed for more than three hours said they lost business worth millions of shillings.

BUSINESS

Burma Market, which supplies meat to many parts of the city, did not open that day.

“We lost around Sh20 million,” Mr Peter Kimani, the chairman of Burma Market, said.

A matatu minibus belonging to Forward Sacco was also torched. Mr George Mwogo, an official of the sacco, said the bus was worth Sh4.6 million.

Other traders had their stalls torched and property looted and vandalised in what the opposition had said would be a peaceful march.