Bomet's silent epidemic: How sexual violence crisis hides behind culture, cash and complicity

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

What you need to know:

- Illegal settlements and cultural practices are shielding perpetrators while survivors are left traumatised.

- Chief Justice Martha Koome warns that sexual offences must be handled through the formal justice system.

In Bomet, a defilement case does not always end in court. More often, it ends in a quiet room, where an elder, chief or relative negotiates a settlement. A sum of money changes hands and the matter is declared closed. The survivor is left to carry the trauma alone.

This is the picture that has emerged from the county in recent months and it has alarmed stakeholders enough to demand stern action against perpetrators who remain free. At the heart of the problem is a practice that has become a disturbing routine: parents and guardians entering into illegal out-of-court settlements to shield suspects, propped up by cultural norms that have long treated such violations as private family matters rather than crimes.

In the last six months alone, Bomet has recorded 40 reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), 26 of which involved direct murder threats against survivors. Statistics from the Judiciary, the police and both national and county administrations paint a grim picture, one in which the institutions meant to protect victims have often turned their backs on them instead.

Defilement, rape, sodomy and domestic violence, some of it fatal, remain the leading forms of abuse against women and children in Bomet. Gender-based violence prevalence stands at 44.4 per cent in a region where deep-rooted cultural practices have historically failed to treat such acts as serious crimes against women and girls.

Assault cases account for 44.4 per cent of reported incidents, defilement for 34.9 per cent, and murder for 11.1 per cent, according to statistics presented before Chief Justice Martha Koome when she launched the Alternative Justice System (AJS) Action Plan in Bomet on August 3. Even these numbers, stakeholders say, understate the true scale of the crisis, given the hundreds of cases that go unreported or are settled illegally behind closed doors, to the victims' disadvantage.

Police officers, chiefs, parents and guardians have all been named as either enabling the crime or perpetrating it outright in a society still bound by practices such as female genital mutilation and the confinement of women and girls to household chores.

Confronted with the latest statistics, and with growing evidence of kangaroo courts operating in the villages, Chief Justice Koome issued a firm warning against the misuse of the Alternative Justice System to settle criminal matters.

“Sexual Gender-Based Violence is a no-go zone for our AJS. Those are numbers that will have to be processed, as they are offences against the dignity of the human being, against humanity, and they cause trauma forever,” Ms Koome said. “Because of the statistics of SGBV, I wish to ask the people of Bomet to have respect for children, boys and girls who are being defiled and sodomised, and women subjected to rape and domestic violence.”

She urged the community to protect its children rather than criminalise its victims. “We need to live in harmony and allow the children to thrive and realise their full potential but not keep coming to court as if they are murderers, yet they are victims of a failed system, a system that does not protect vulnerable children and women.”

Ms Koome was categorical that such cases belong squarely within the formal justice system. “Cases of SGBV belong within the criminal justice system, and must be investigated, documented, prosecuted and determined in accordance with the law,” she said, adding that anyone found negotiating or mediating a sexual offence becomes complicit.

“Anybody negotiating or mediating a sexual offence becomes an offender themselves, as they are aiding and abetting the perpetuation of the offence.”

Stakeholders in the region have since called for decisive action against perpetrators, pointing out that victims remain traumatised with little to no access to treatment or professional psychological support.

Prof Hillary Barchok, the governor of Bomet, described the scale of teenage pregnancy in the county as heartbreaking. “That Bomet County recorded a total of 4,365 teenage pregnancies among girls aged 15 to 19 over a nine-month period covering 2024 to 2025 is heartbreaking. It calls for a multi-agency and stakeholders’ approach to ending the vice that has crept into society.”

Cases of defilement, teenage pregnancy, rape, wife battering, domestic violence and other forms of abuse continue to rise, despite deterrent measures taken by the Judiciary. For Prof Barchok, the figures represent more than statistics. “The statistics presented on defilement, rape and gender-based violence are not just numbers, they represent our daughters, our sisters, our mothers and our children. There are cases of parents killing their own children in baffling criminal cases that must come to an end,” he said.

The governor did not spare those in positions of trust. “We have seen fathers defile their own daughters, teachers preying on girls, lecturers holding young girls’ captive, and security officers who should be cracking the whip against offenders becoming complacent and complicit in the cases, thus protecting the suspects against the victims.”

Despite years of sensitisation, arrests and prosecutions, SGBV cases continue to thrive in the villages, where kangaroo courts settle crimes behind the scenes, sometimes with the full knowledge of local administrators. Suspects are often made to pay fines to the affected families, who are left to suffer in silence with deep-rooted trauma, while the cases are marked closed without victims ever receiving treatment.

“No amount of money can compensate for the violation of a child. When we settle cases in secret, we deny victims the justice they deserve, and we allow perpetrators to walk free and continue with the abuse. This practice must end,” Prof Barchok said.

Boda boda riders have lately emerged as major culprits, luring young girls with rides and money before sexually preying on them, leaving some with long-lasting health complications that threaten their lives and general wellbeing.

Irene Cherotich Terer, a businesswoman and politician, pointed to the role of alcohol and drugs in fuelling the crisis. “Brewing of illicit brews, availability of alcoholic drinks, and the sale and consumption of drugs and substances, including bhang, have been the major causes of the growing trend of sexual abuse against women, girls and boys in the region,” she said, calling for the clergy, elders, administrators, leaders and professionals to come together to address the issues affecting victims' physical and mental health.

Technology-assisted violence

The crisis is no longer confined to homes, streets and workplaces. Children are increasingly exposed to digital sexual exploitation and abuse, with recorded sexual material sold in cyberspace as part of a global, multi-million-shilling industry.

“Violence has shifted, expanding beyond homes, streets and workplaces into digital spaces where our children learn, socialise and explore opportunities,” said Principal Secretary for Children Services Carren Agengo in Bomet recently.

Ms Agengo said SGBV must be tackled alongside online violence, harmful gendered misinformation, and the harassment of young girls on social media. Citing 2022 data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, she noted that 34 per cent of women have experienced physical violence, while 13 per cent have been exposed to sexual violence from the age of 15.

“Technology has brought immense progress, but it has also opened new pathways for harm: cyberbullying, online grooming, sextortion, trafficking, and the spread of harmful content targeting women and girls,” she said. “Digital violence is real, it is growing, and it demands our collective action, through strengthening gender desks, investing in prevention programmes, and building safe community structures to prevent further exploitation.”

In response, the county government has established a holding ground at the Bomet police station, offering psychosocial, legal and medical support to victims. It is intended to provide a safer, more dignified environment for minors and other survivors of sexual assault and SGBV.

Roseline Cheptoo, Member of the County Assembly for Rongena-Manaret in Sotik, said domestic violence remains deeply entrenched within the family unit, often discussed only in hushed tones.

“Some men and women have been forced to put up with domestic violence in a bid to hold the family together. In the process, they have invited more trauma on themselves,” she said, urging victims to speak out, seek psychosocial support, and report cases so that suspects can be arrested and prosecuted.

People living with disabilities have also been identified as particularly vulnerable, preyed upon by sexual offenders. Gang rapes have been reported, exposing victims to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/Aids. Some survivors have had to drop out of school as a result of trauma, and a number of defilement cases have involved elderly perpetrators. Clergy and elders have since been drawn into efforts to curb the cases and better children and women.

Suffering in silence

Getrude Chepkemoi, founder of Beacons of Hearts, a community-based organisation working on women's and children's rights and gender-based violence in South Rift, said hundreds of victims continue to suffer in silence long after they are attacked.

“Most victims fear coming forward to report cases because the perpetrators are known to them. In some cases, the suspects are close relatives or guardians, and the victims fear reprisals should they report to the authorities. It is a matter that must be dealt with by everyone in society,” Chepkemoi said.

She added that boys, too, are affected. “It is not only girls who have been defiled, but also boys who have been subjected to sodomy, and they require treatment and professional psychological support.”

Reporting originally appeared via Nation Africa. Read the full source for additional context.