Tuesday October 9, 2018
STEPHEN ASTARIKO
An aerial picture shows the market section of the Hagadera camp in Dadaab near the Kenya-Somalia border, May 8, 2015Photo Reuters
Police in Garissa are hunting a woman for the torture of a 13-year-old girl who was under her care for one year.
The girl from Mandera bears torture marks, is suffering trauma and severe malnutrition. She is recuperating at Garissa referral hospital after she was rescued by her father.
“Every time she wanted me to do chores, she scalded my body with hot water. She bludgeoned my head with a blunt object,” the girl told journalists from her hospital bed.
Surgeon Dr Siwo Ernes, said parts of her skull were exposed. She had difficulty walking and her shoulders were injured.
“Both her wrists are deformed due to long-time untreated burns, and other wounds seem to have been repeatedly inflicted,” Dr Ernest said.
What started as a visit to a distant relative who promised to help the girl go to school turned into enslavement by her ‘protector’.
Garissa police boss Aron Moriasi said the woman appears to have fled to the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. He appealed to residents for information.
“We are appealing to parents to take good care of their children and not entrust minors to the care of others,” he said.