A nine-year-old girl was defiled before being brutally attacked by unknown men in Riruta, Nairobi County on Wednesday night.
The girl succumbed to the injuries a few hours after the attack, according to the police.
Nairobi County Police Commander Yakub Rashid on Thursday, November 5, 2020, said that the minor, Shaleen Felisia, went missing from her family residence in Riruta on Tuesday afternoon and was later found seriously injured on Ngina Road around 1 am on Wednesday.
The father, Benson Shikokoti, said he went home after work on Tuesday around 5.30 pm and did not find the daughter at home. He inquired from his son who told him the deceased had gone to the toilet.
After an hour, he decided to look for her at a neighbour’s house but she was not there. At around 9 pm, he again went out to look for her but in vain.
At around 1 am, the daughter was heard screaming in a lot of pain.
The father picked her and took her home. He said that her left leg was fractured and she had a deep wound near the right eye.
Her left arm fingers were also swollen and had wounds on the forehead and the left eye.
The family rushed her to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
The doctor examined her and established that she had also been defiled.
Detectives from the Dagoreti Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Thursday revisited the scene and interrogated witnesses.
“We are approaching the probe with a very open mind and it will be very broad. The minor could have been assaulted by a family member and thrown out of the house,” an officer who sought anonymity said.
Police reports indicate that there is an increase in such attacks targeting minors. According to the National Crime Centre, a total of 27 minors were defiled in Taita Taveta County alone in the last one month.
The County Commissioner Rodah Onyancha called on the political and religious leaders to stand up against the vices that she said had led to school dropouts, early marriages, and pregnancies.
“We need a conversation with men and other stakeholders about the rising defilement cases,” she said.
