Detectives in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County, are investigating an incident where a man was allegedly attacked and raped by five women.
The incident allegedly happened last Thursday, February 6. The 22-year-old man, a resident of Lodwar town, Turkana County, had just arrived in the agricultural town on Thursday evening and was looking for a place to spend the night before proceeding to Eldoret the following day.
A preliminary police report shows the five women, all sex workers, had ganged up to attack and rob the man before sexually assaulting him in the 7pm incident.
The women, the report says, forced him to have sex with one of them in the corridor of a building on the backstreet of the busy Laini Moja Street.
“They took his valuables, including Sh400, before leaving him and disappeared,” reads part of the police report.
Confused and in fear, the victim was helped by some boda boda operators who took him to Wamalwa Kijana Referral Hospital for medical attention.
At the facility’s Gender-based Violence Recovery Centre, several tests were done on the traumatised victim, and counseling was done to ease tension and help him recover from the trauma.
The hospital report shows he was immediately put on post-exposure prophylaxis, a treatment to prevent HIV infection after sexual exposure.
“The victim had no physical injuries, but medical examination revealed that he had been sexually violated,” the hospital report read.
The gender-based recovery unit, later on, Friday, January 7, connected the victim to a local human rights organisation for legal advice and to seek justice.
Here, he met Boniface Wanyoike, the Justice Programme officer at Justice and Peace Centre Kitale.Nation spoke to Mr Wanyoike, who confirmed meeting the victim, noting that he was very frightened and traumatised.
“I received a call from a doctor from our GBV working group that a young man had been raped by women along the Kitale bus park the previous night and was being treated and placed on PrEP,” Mr Wanyoike said.
“I interviewed the young man, who looked worried and confused. He narrated to me what transpired. I took him to Kitale Police Station to record his statement, and he was issued with a P3 form.”
The rights defender revealed that the man did not understand the right channel to seek justice and was ashamed to pursue the same, but was encouraged and accepted to report the matter at the Kitale Police station accompanied by some human rights defenders.
“He took police officers to the scene of the crime the following day, where some women suspected to be commercial sex workers were arrested, and investigations are ongoing. The suspected women are still at large," added Mr Wanyoike.
Rights activists in Trans Nzoia have condemned the incident and called for a thorough investigation to ensure the victim gets justice.
“Gender-based violence guidelines are very clear, but more consistent to the female gender than to men. The cultural stereotypes have made men seen as jokers when they attempt to report such cases at the police station,” said Mr Wanyoike, who is also a paralegal officer.
The Nation has a copy of the medical report OP 3777/2015 from the (WKFH) and the National Police Service Medical Examination Report (P3) even as the victim continues to pursue justice.
The matter is under investigation by detectives from Kitale Police Station even as the victim continues with psychosocial counseling.
Rights activists have called for concerted efforts by a multiagency team to help male victims who have experienced rape or sexual trauma to ensure they get proper support.
“We are very concerned because most gender-based violence against men is mostly not reported. It Is important to remember that healing is a gradual process, and there is a need to have more efforts to support male victims of gender-based violence,” said Mr Wanyoike.
