Defiled by Blood: Exposing the Silent Scars of Family Betrayal

In the Luhya culture, the children belong to their father. So when the parents to Mary and Vivan (14 and 16 years old respectfully) separated, the two teenage girls from Kabwodo village in Samia sub county Busia County remained with their father who was a ‘prophet’ of god. His main hustle was praying for people and casting out demons from people. Their mother left for Nairobi where she worked as a nanny.

During one of the December holidays, the girls went to visit their maternal relatives and during the visit, they disclosed to their maternal uncle that their father had been defiling them. In addition to this, they confided in him that they had both conceived at different times and their father had taken them to a local chemist in Bumala town where they procured abortions.  Mary disclosed that she had aborted twice and Vivian had aborted once.

They also confessed that they had reported this to their maternal grandmother and she had sternly warned her son their father and a sheep had been slaughtered, herbs boiled and the two girls together with their father had bathed and drunk the herbs and had stepped inside the intestines of the sheep. All this was to cleanse the girls. The girls were warned never to report the matter to anyone lest a curse befalls them.  However, this did not stop him from abusing them.

The uncle to the two girls then called REEP offices and immediately arrangement to have the girls taken to a hospital was done. In the hospital, it was confirmed that the two girls had been defiled repeatedly and Vivan was still healing from an abortion. Since their mother was in Nairobi and there is no safe shelter in Busia for SGBV survivors, their maternal grandmother was given custody of the girls.

Their father was arrested and was denied bail. However, as the matter proceeded in court, the girls and their mother started receiving threats from family members and the community. They then said that they wished to withdraw the matter as they had completely forgiven their father and that the short time, he had stayed in remand he had learnt his lesson and therefore wished to withdraw the matter.

Although REEP strongly advised them against this and even reported the issue to the police and made the court aware of the same, their uncle reported that Mary and Vivian’s father was set free by the court and is currently at home. The girls have since been married off to different men and no longer speak about the issue lest they are sent away from their marital homes!