Defiled: Time ripe to act on girl child’s silent screams
A girl in despair. Cases of defilement at home have been on the rise in recent times.
What you need to know:
- Hardly a week passes without cases being reported; we should wake up to this gory act before it festers beyond control.
- Under the Sexual Offences Act, a person who defiles a child aged 11 and below is sentenced to life imprisonment upon conviction.
I have a small circle of friends, my ‘ride or die’. Then there is my bestie, a five-year-old girl, my ‘granddaughter’. She lives in the village, so we interact mostly during the Christmas holiday when I visit my mother in Siaya County.
I will call her Lisa. She always looks forward to my village visits. Besides the goodies I bring her, she is guaranteed a ride to town. She brightens my stay in the village, entertaining me with the latest song and dance she has learned in school.
So close are we that when she visited her single mother, a casual labourer in Nairobi, last year, she came to my house for a sleepover and never wanted to leave.
Long story short, last week, I received news that an uncle had been defiling my bestie. This 30-year-old man was offered accommodation by Lisa’s grandfather when he had nowhere to live.
Lisa’s teacher overheard her sharing her experience with a classmate, and she informed Lisa’s grandmother. The pervert, well known to me, was arrested last week and is awaiting prosecution. May justice prevail for Lisa, and on time.
Under the Sexual Offences Act, a person who defiles a child aged 11 and below is sentenced to life imprisonment upon conviction. That’s my wish for this pervert. Sadly, Lisa has to contend with this nasty experience for the rest of her life.
Studies say that defiled children, more often than not, suffer low self-esteem, poor social relationships, attention deficit, depression and perform poorly in school, among others.
My heart bleeds for Lisa and many girls whose childhoods are stolen by inhumane perpetrators – sometimes their own fathers, or men who have daughters too. The unending news of defilement sends chills down my spine.
Hardly a week passes without cases being reported. We should wake up to this gory act before it festers beyond control.
For reported cases, the justice system remains extremely slow. Unfortunately, most perpetrators are related to their victims. Many get away with it – because the victims never speak up or relatives resolve the matter ‘amicably’.
In Lisa’s case, the grandfather wanted the matter hushed because it “would cause bad blood between them and the perpetrator’s family”. The nerve!
Most defilement cases go unreported. The children’s naivety exacerbates the situation. An adult can expressly deny sexual consent, put up a fight and escape. But a child is helpless.
She does not understand consent, hence cannot give or deny it. How does society condone this evildoing? We turn to religion and culture to validate defilement, ignoring the girl-child’s silent screams. Why should we protect these monsters?
To the perverts, negotiate for sex with fellow adults, get their consent and let children enjoy their childhood.
While we need a national conversation on this matter, the parents or guardians of victims, as the first agents of socialisation, should focus on their responsibility and tell their children about predators on the prowl. They should be careful who they leave their children with.
Sex education in our schools should not be a subject of debate. The government has the lion’s share of these responsibilities.
And yes, boys are at risk too, but girls are the most affected.
