A three-month-old baby is admitted at Busia County Referral Hospital with a serious cut on the head suffered during a fight by the parents.
The child’s mother, Wilifrisha Anyango, said it all started when her husband, Collins Ouma, aged 40, started a quarrel and beat her up without good reason.
He cut her and the baby using a slasher during the Tuesday evening brawl in Nangoma location. Ouma operates a bar.
“He is used to beating me up whenever he has female workers in the pub,” Anyango said.
Anyango said it took the efforts of patrons in the club who intervened to help her get out of danger and have her husband arrested.
“I went to call clients in the bar and requested them for assistance and upon reaching the house, they found him asleep. I took the baby before going to report the incident at Matayos police post,” she said.
The mother of seven stated she has endured violence from her husband for years while hoping that things would improve.
“We have a five-year-old boy who is disabled after he was hit with a hammer by his father. I have always reported to the village elders and to the police after these cases but they have never arrested him. I want the government to deal with him accordingly.”
Confirming the incident, Busia County Referral Hospital focal person for gender-based violence, Sammy Obuhuma, said the child was in a stable condition.
“We received a patient, a threemonth-old child, with an extensive cut wound on the head which had been inflicted by a slasher that was aimed at the mother. The baby was referred here after the initial treatment at Matayos subcounty hospital,” he said.
“The child is in stable condition and we are keeping the mother and the baby here for safety because of the unpredictable situation at home.”
Obuhuma added that the mother has scars all over her body as a result of repeated incidents of assault from her husband.
He said the hospital has received several other cases related to gender-based violence.
The incident comes just two days after the government launched the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence on Monday in Wote, Makueni county.
This year’s theme is, ‘Towards 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Unite to end violence against girls and women.”
According to UN Women, every 10 minutes, partners and family members killed a woman intentionally in 2023.
Globally, almost one in three women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life.
UN Women said the solution
lies in robust responses, holding
perpetrators accountable, and accelerating action through well-resourced national strategies and increased funding to women’s rights
movements.
