This archive report was first published on 3 December 2019.
On November 1, a 12-year-old girl from Nyabohanse town accused her father, a police officer, of defiling her at their home.
The girl, a Standard Five pupil, had gone to her father to collect her school fees, which her grandmother could not afford. Her father, who operated a local pub in Nyabohanse town, lured her into his bedroom and committed the act in broad daylight.
She rushed out of the house weeping and ran to Nyabohanse Police Post to report the incident. However, the female police officer she spoke to called her father and the area chief, trying to persuade her to forgive him.
At about 2pm, she was transferred to Isebania Police Station, where she was placed in a cell and two hours later taken to Nyayo Hospital for a medical examination. The medical report revealed that she had been infected with a venereal disease.
The girl's grandmother told the Nation that the medical report, P3 form, police statements, and medical reports were tampered with to bungle the case. The six-day detention was a plot to conceal possible evidence of rape, and even police records and occurrence book entries were skewed.
Despite the pain and suffering, hopes for justice seem to be dimming by the day. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji, is seeking to close the case 'due to lack of evidence.'
Senior officers at Isebania Police Station are on the spot for throwing the girl in a cell after she had gone to report the case. The officers allowed her father to check on her only to threaten the girl to drop the case.
