All in a Day's Work

The task didn’t sound that daunting.  Gather information about the criminal cases filed in and around Nairobi in 2010 that involved violence against women – rape, sexual assault and defilement.

Those cases generally are tried by the lower courts in Kenya.  As in the U.S., the lower court cases are not reported; however, the trial court proceedings also are not recorded in Kenya.  The only record is whatever documents are placed in the file and the report prepared by the magistrate who heard the case (there is no trial by jury).

The records for the cases are maintained in the courts of law for each neighborhood or jurisdiction.  Last Friday, I made calls to see how to check records for the city of Nairobi.  I learned there were records in the High Court building in the city center, but I needed authorization first to get in to review them.

I went to work on that and got my authorization Monday morning.  Monday afternoon, I went to the High Court (not nearly as easy as it sounds) and met an assistant from a Kenyan law reporting agency, who spent the rest of the afternoon with me.

I will note here that I am almost entirely dependent on the kindness of strangers in finding my way around and through places and processes.  And they come through for me over and over again, with no obligation to do so.  The civil servants, although sometimes harried and perhaps a bit unenthusiastic, have been unfailingly (well, almost unfailingly) polite and helpful.

                                               

Charge Register



So I quickly learned that in order to locate a rape case or a sexual assault case, you have to go through every charge that is entered by hand into large log books.  There is no information in the

 log other than the nature of the charge. 

Once you have the case number, you then have to locate the file to see what information is in there.

Kibera

We went through all of the 2010 charge logs for the Nairobi city area; we did not find a single charge of rape or sexual assault or defilement.  We were told that most of the rape charges come out of the Kibera or Makadara Law courts.

Kibera is Nairobi's largest slum; the prior president's private residence is on a hill just overlooking it.  We drove to the law court, which is located just inside the slum borders.  It is a short distance, but a long drive.  By that time it was late afternoon.

Again we worked our way through the hierarchy until we got to the court’s executive officer.  He arranged for us to review several of the charge logs for 2010 and we found about 30-35 rape/sexual assault charges filed.  A few of the accused were acquitted, a few charges withdrawn and two had convictions.  The rest are either ongoing or in procedural limbo. 



Kibera Law Court



We now need access to the files to see what information is in there.  The Executive Officer said he needs time to get the information necessary to do that from the case numbers, especially for those cases not yet determined. 

We are going back next Tuesday, April 12, to review whatever files he pulls together for us.  I am not certain what we will find, but hopefully it will include information that describes the underlying fact scenarios.



Highway to Nairobi



The traffic to and from Nairobi was again a nightmare.  It took us hours to go just a few miles.  The roads include trucks, public transport vans, cars, pull-carts, motorcycles and dozens and dozens of people in the road selling everything from flowers to sunglasses to puppies.

On the other hand, the weather is perfect.