Concern as parents, guardians are accused of brutally assaulting their children in Kuresoi
Some of the injuries on the nine-year-old girl who was physically assaulted and locked up in Kuresoi North
On November 11, a 60-year-old woman was arrested on suspicions of torturing her two grandchildren in Kuresoi South
The grandmother allegedly conspired with the boys’ stepfather to “teach them a lesson” for allegedly stealing her Sh 1500.
Her arrest, however brings to light the vice that has been silently creeping in the villages of the rural sub county in the past year which has raised concerns among stakeholders.
Cases of children being brutalized by their parents and guardians have been on the rise in Kuresoi North and South.
On February 22, Mtaa Wangu highlighted a case in Cheptagum village in Kuresoi North, where a 13-year-old girl was allegedly burnt on the buttocks with a hot knife by the father.
The chairman of Nyumba Kumi elders gave a horrific tale of how the man, who upon assaulting the child, managed to lock up the child in the house for the better part of a week, refusing to allow her to seek medical attention.
It was through the intervention of the neighbors that the girl was rescued and the suspect arrested by the police.
A similar case was reported on August 21 where a 9-year-old girl was serious injured after being assaulted by her parents for allegedly arriving home late from church.
Her mother is said to have beaten her immediately she arrived before her father whip her again later in the night.
The parents later tied her down using a nylon rope and continued flogging her resulting in multiple bruises all over her body.
The mother was arrested but the father escaped after he got wind of his impending arrest.
Kevin Kibet, a resident of Kuresoi North, says the cases have been on the rise in the area noting that many of them go unreported.
“What they do not know is that apart from physically hurting these children, they are affecting them psychologically, and as they grow, these children may develop mental health issues.” Notes Kevin
Nakuru County Police Commander Emmanuel Epuru during a phone call interview, says the trend is deeply worrying and suggests a multi-agency effort towards safeguarding children’s rights.
County Children Coordinator Pilot Khaemba in a phone call interview notes that the issue of children abuse in the region is alarming.
He laments that it has become a norm among the community members in the area brutally cane children in the guise of instilling discipline.
" These are cases of negative discipline or counterproductive discipline, because it does not help the child in fact it causes more harm to the children, " he notes.
He linked the vice to communities’ practices which have overtime believed that violence toward children is the only way to instill discipline," he says.
The coordinator says the best way to combat this would be to identify the negative cultural values that are harmful to children and eliminate them.