Mwiti’s trial started with horrific tale of rape in office
Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti appears in court.
What you need to know:
- The woman’s version of events as told to the Nation was that the MP had asked her to go to his office to discuss a job on a Saturday evening; that he had ordered alcohol to be brought to the office and had started drinking; and that he had called a doctor to conduct an HIV test on her.
- Mr Mwiti denies the allegations. Although the victim’s tale has remained the same since the day she first told it to journalists and police, the MP’s account has morphed.
In March, a woman arrived at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital with a horrifying tale. She said that an MP had lured her into his office, beaten her up, forced her to take an HIV test and raped her.
She was promptly booked into a ward and was put on treatment for assault. The accused was Mr Gideon Mwiti, the MP for Imenti Central. The woman was a communication practitioner he had hired for a publicity job.
Her hospital report was consistent with the claims. Initial findings stated that she was “emotional, and had on a torn skirt and blouse”.
It classified her case as a “suspected rape, with soft injuries on the lips, cheeks, chest and abdomen secondary to physical assault”.
The woman’s version of events as told to the Nation was that the MP had asked her to go to his office to discuss a job on a Saturday evening; that he had ordered alcohol to be brought to the office and had started drinking; and that he had called a doctor to conduct an HIV test on her.
“He beat me so badly. He hit me, kicked me and I was on the floor. He continued beating me and I had to accept to be tested,” she said.
“He beat me up and tore my clothes. He also told me to stop behaving as if I did not know what he wanted. He then tore my clothes off and he raped me repeatedly.”
Mr Mwiti denies the allegations. Although the victim’s tale has remained the same since the day she first told it to journalists and police, the MP’s account has morphed.
When first contacted by the Nation over the allegations, he denied even knowing the victim. On further questioning, he said he knew her but had not seen her on the day she said she was assaulted.
His final version was that he knew her, met her on that day but never laid a finger on her. The MP was summoned to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations almost a week after the incident to record a “fresh” statement.
A witness, who also recorded a statement around the time was a taxi driver who said he had picked up the victim on Woodvale Grove in Nairobi and taken her close to Jacaranda Hotel, where she had parked her car.
The driver said he was approached by the woman in torn clothes. She asked him to drop her off where she had left her vehicle.
Meanwhile, the doctor whom the victim accused of doing an HIV test on her by force turned out to be an unregistered fellow operating at a clinic in Ngara, Nairobi.
Mr Mwangi Muchiri, who ran the Fig Tree Medical Clinic, was arrested. He was disowned by both the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board and the Pharmacists and Poisons Board, which denied ever giving him a licence to run a clinic or a pharmacy.
He was charged with practising medicine without a licence and was released on a Sh100,000 bond, pending the hearing.
The MP was charged with rape on April 2, some 12 days after the victim had reported the crime. He pleaded not guilty to three charges of sexual assault and was freed on Sh100, 000 bail.
