A woman in Nairobi is seeking justice for her 10-year-old son who was allegedly sodomised by his father.
The woman said her son had been in and out of hospital since the incident occurred in January and had undergone an operation to remove his scrotum.
“He has never gone back to school since he was sodomised. He has been passing pus and a smelly liquid. He has just been discharged from hospital again today (Thursday last week),” she told The Standard in an interview.
The mother of three said she had left her son - who had been sent away from school - at home and gone to look for casual jobs to earn some money.
She said when she arrived home that evening, she found the boy, a Standard Four pupil, lying still on the floor in a pool of smelly liquid.
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Plastic carpet
“I thought the smell was coming from under the plastic carpet. I called him but he did not respond. I turned him over and noticed that his eyes were popped out, so I called for help and rushed him to a nearby pharmacy,” she narrated.
It was at the pharmacy that she learned that her son had been sodomised. After the boy was resuscitated, she was asked to report the incident to the police and referred to a hospital.
The matter was first reported at the Kariobangi South police post under Occurrence Book number 08/01/2018. It was later referred to Buru Buru Police Station and filed under OB number 91/01/2018.
When questioned by police, the boy said his father had gagged him before raping him repeatedly.
He had been sent home because he did not have exercise books to use in school. His mother did not have money to buy the books.
But tired of staying at home, he had decided to visit his father, who by then had been separated from his mother for four years.
“He said after raping him, his father bought him French fries and six exercise books, and gave him Sh100 to take home,” narrated the boy’s mother.
The boy was taken to hospital on January 8, where doctors treating him confirmed that he had been sodomised.
This marked the beginning of the mother’s tribulations as her son has been in and out of hospital ever since, with each visit worse than the last.
“He has since been releasing smelly liquid from behind. Sometimes it is so much that I am forced to buy him diapers,” said the woman in tears.
Pus has also been oozing from the boy’s penis.
Seal manhood
“He cries in pain whenever he urinates. I often seal the end of his manhood with Elastoplast so that the liquid can accumulate. When I remove it, the lump is pushed out with pressure and is less painful for him,” the woman said.
She said four months after the incident, she noticed her son’s penis beginning to swell and took him to hospital.
“I thought it would go away, but after three days, the condition was worse. When I took him to hospital, the doctor told me he needed surgery urgently to remove one of his scrotums, which had suffered trauma,” she said.
The doctor could not however ascertain if the trauma was as a result of the rape. The boy had to undergo more tests.
“The doctor told me there was a high chance the remaining scrotum would also be removed because it was also badly affected.
“He however hoped the medication he was taking would correct the situation.”
Police say the boy’s father denied the sodomy charges, claiming his shaky relationship with his wife might be the reason he was being accused.
“We interrogated the man and he claimed that his wife was framing him because of the shaky relationship they had,” said an officer at Kariobangi Police Post who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Kariobangi South Senior Inspector Wachira Gikonyo confirmed the incident had been reported at the police post. “We received the complaint against the suspect, who is said to be the biological fatherof the sexually assaulted child,” said Mr Gikonyo.
He said two of his officers were sent to arrest the suspect who was then taken to Buru Buru Police Station where he was detained.
“Due to the weight of the matter, we referred the case to Buru Buru Police Station for further police action,” he said without disclosing the findings of preliminary investigations.