By Raisa Okwaras
A brave 12-year-old girl in Sigor Village, Marich, West Pokot, managed to escape from the hands of assault after declining to get married off to an old man.
According to the police reports at Marich Police Station, 10 grown men among them the victim’s blood father gave her a merciless beating after she refused to marry the elderly man. This came in after the father allegedly paid 10 heads of cows to the old man as dowry a week prior.
The beating was meant to make her submit to the men’s wants, something that the poor girl was adamant about. She waited till the men were drunk and that is when she got a chance to flee to the police station.
“On Wednesday, a group of men came to her and beat her up so that she could accept the marriage,” stated the police officers as they were speaking to The Standard.
The police officers stated that on the fateful day, after the beating, the victim was taken to the old suitor’s homestead and the celebrations began. She was forcefully crammed between the old men as they drank in celebration and made merry.
However, unbeknownst to the old men, the brave girl had an escape plan in mind.
“The group had decided to make merry after successfully marrying off the girl. According to the minor, she waited for the men to get drunk then she ran away,” said the police officers at Marich.
The minor fled and went straight to Marich police station where she reported the ordeal. Upon receiving the news, the police officers rushed to the scene but unluckily, word had already gotten to the culprits and they managed to escape before the police got a hold of them.
Sigor OCPD Bamfort Surwa also added the fact that plans had already been made for the minor to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) once she had been married off successfully.
The police are currently on the run to hunt down the said culprits, with the victim’s father as one of them.