Gender-Based Violence (GBV), being one of the worst violations of human rights, has robbed respect and a sense of safety from elderly women and teens in Mwala Machakos.
It was for this reason that Wamunyu Senior Resident Magistrate (SM) Eugene Pascal called for urgent action from leaders and the authorities.
SM Pascal was speaking in Wamunyu Mwala Sub-County during a stakeholder forum that brought together court users, human rights advocates, survivors and the Women Representative, where he disclosed that there was an increase of rape cases for elderly women over 70 years and teenagers in Mwala.
He pointed out that they have observed that when victims appeared in court, they seemed visibly shaken, distressed, terrified, and traumatized and unable to divulge the details of the abuse, while blaming societal and community pressures that force victims to withdraw the cases and resort to kangaroo courts. "The number of elderly women getting raped is on the rise and the challenge is community pressure to withdraw the case by shaming and blaming the victim, causing unimaginable emotional damage," added Pascal.
