16-year-old girl defiled on her way to school in Maragua

Sixteen-year-old girl who was defiled on her way to school last week. /ALICE WAITHERE

A family in Maragua, Murang’a county is seeking justice after their 16-year-old daughter was defiled on her way to school.

The minor was on her daily trek to a Day secondary school located about five kilometres away from her home when the incident occurred Thursday last week.

She narrated how a man that is not known to her but who she occasionally sees on her way to and from school approached her and struck a conversation.

“He greeted me and asked me where I was coming from. He then told me that I looked like I was coming from a club and started touching me. When I started walking away, he grabbed me.”

When she tried to wiggle out of his hold, the man started raining blows on her and attempted to strangle her before dragging her into a nearby farm.

She said the man then started undressing her despite her resistance and threw her to the ground.

The girl fought back by hitting the attacker and managed to kick him off her.

“As I tried to stand up and run, he pulled me back down and started strangling me again and hitting me on my face so I could not scream,” she tearfully narrated.

The assailant proceeded to sexually assault her and the girl then walked back home in tears and with her face swollen.

Her mother rushed her to a local hospital where she was treated and put on drugs before reporting the matter at Maragua police station.

“She came back home crying at around 7am and after she told me what had happened, I rushed her to the hospital and she was given Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PeP) and other drugs to prevent diseases,” the mother said.

The distraught mother said her daughter, a Form 4 candidate, is severely affected psychologically besides nursing physical injuries.

She is appealing for help to put her through counseling.

“I'm concerned that her academic performance may be affected by the ordeal especially since she will be sitting for her KCSE later this year,” she said.

To avert similar incidences, residents who assembled at her home called on the government to regulate the time that Day school learners should report to school as many are forced to start their long trek before day break.