Stretched judicial processes frustrating pursuit of justice

Gender desks stationed across various police stations in Nyanza and Western region have cited long judicial processes as a major hindrance to efforts to render justice to victims of various forms of gender-based violence (GBV).

Rape, defilement and wife battery top the occurrence books at the gender desk while domestic violence, forced marriages and assaults have also been reported in considerable numbers.

But in most cases, justice is not served to victims as the matters are dropped in court often due to insufficient evidence or interference from relatives and perpetrators.

In Kisii, the gender desk established four years ago has in the last one year handled 528 gender based violence cases and all were taken to court, according to the officer in charge of the desk Mr Wycliffe Kwendo.

Mr Kwendo says wife battery is also the most frequently reported GBV case in the region.

DENIED PRIVACY

County commander Martin Kibet says the gender desk is situated away from the main police desk to avoid congestion and give privacy to victims involved in sensitive cases. The desk is manned by eight police officers, five females and three males.

In Siaya, however, most gender desks at police stations are not functional.

At Bondo Police Station, the officer manning the desk shares the office with the crime branch officers, thus denying clients the needed privacy.

Nation could not obtain statistics on past reported cases after the officer commanding police station, Mr Abdikadir Yusuf Mamo, declined to speak to the media.

UNMANNED DESKS

He referred us to the sub-county police commander, Mr Antony Wafula, who said he was out of the office and was not able to release the data on previous cases the station had handled.

At Akala Police Station, there was an unmanned gender desk.

The officer we found at the report office said the two officers mandated to work at the desk were on a training course in Busia.

The station commander, Mr Jared Nyaosi, claimed that defilement cases, which were rampant in the area a year ago, had gone down.

However, he did not provide data to support his claims.

At Aram Police Station, Plan International has established a centre, which is now handling gender-related cases as well as acting as a rescue centre for abandoned or neglected children or those with criminal cases.

ELUSIVE JUSTICE

The area divisional police commander, Mr Thomas Ototo, who said the gender desk was operational, promised to provide the statistics of cases recorded in the last one year, but had not done so by the time of filing this report.

In Homa Bay, since the establishment of the gender desks, security officers have apprehended several offenders but justice remains elusive.

An example is in Ndhiwa Sub-county, which is one of the areas that is worst affected by gender related offences. At the police station, a group of police officers have undergone training to receive and handle cases related to gender.

Ndhiwa sub-county police commander Evance Ombui said the officers who underwent special training have been assigned to only receive cases from victims of gender violence and give them necessary advice.

IMPROVED SERVICES

In the past, some GBV victims failed to report their ordeal because of police officers’ lack of professionalism.

Mr Mbui told Nation that services offered to such victims have since been improved after the training.

He added that the desk has been in existence for more than two years.

“In the past, the desk was at the main police station block, but due to the sensitivity of some of the cases it handles, services were transferred to another building,” Mr Mbui told this writer.

Currently, victims can walk to the police station and be directed to a special room where professionally trained officers are able to attend to them.

The main gender desk at Kisumu Central Police Station was established in 2004 alongside gender units in Kondele and Maseno police stations.

PURSUED CASES

Data received from the station from 2017, indicate that the unit has been able to pursue 71 cases in the last three years.

In 2017, 12 cases were pursued, in 2018 the officers pursued 23 cases, while by last month, 36 cases had been pursued in court.

Nation established that away from the three police gender desks, Kisumu county has four other desks yet to be operational. They include; Pap Onditi, Nyando, Awasi and Ahero police stations.

Kisumu Central OCS Remmy Simiyu said that efforts by the police to have the cases finalised and perpetrators held to account have been disrupted by the long judicial processes.

“A smaller percentage of the cases we are pursuing have been finalised. Majority of them are still pending in court and we have had suspects released on bond and they go into hiding,” Mr Simiyu said.