This archive report was first published on 24 November 2019.
Published on November 24, 2019, a report by a multi-agency task force highlights the failures of the Kenyan justice system in handling defilement cases.
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga formed a 17-member task force led by Court of Appeal judge Martha Koome to review the law on children and identify challenges. The task force found that most parents do not cooperate during prosecution, preferring out-of-court settlements with the offenders.
Analysis of police records revealed that between 2016 and 2018, sexual offenses accounted for 69.48% of all pending cases involving children in eight sampled counties. Nairobi had the highest percentage at 90.03%, followed by Nyandarua at 79.33%.
The report also blamed the police for poor investigations, citing a lack of in-depth investigations, forensic tests, and witness interviews. This led to a disconnect between police investigators and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
According to the report, witnesses often fail to show up despite being summoned, and many cases are lost due to the lack of physical evidence. Kilifi County led in cases withdrawn by victims, with almost two-thirds of alleged perpetrators being boys or adults aged between 18 and 25.
Children wait for two to three years before their cases are determined, with pending cases dating back to 2014. The report also revealed that documents presented in court were often tampered with, and DPP prosecutors had not studied their files before court, leading to missing or altered documents.
Boys from a rehabilitation school shared harrowing stories of physical and psychological abuse by police officers, adults, and staff. A baseline survey by the taskforce found that violence is a component of children's lives across all stages of the justice system.
