“The Battering Syndrome”: Chilling cases of Gender Based Violence Victims

Inset: Fatuma Ibrahim with the knife lodged in her cheek

About 45 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical or sexual violence, according to a research by the USAID. Many survivors have limited access to appropriate services. For this reason and many others, incidences of gender-based violence – against both men and women – remain under-reported.

Just the other day, A 32-year-old woman, Fatuma Ibrahim(Inset) had to be flown to Nairobi from Wajir to Nairobi for doctors to remove a 10-inch knife lodged in her jaw after her husband, Mohamed Warmoje, sunk the knife from one cheek to the other after a domestic row.

The husband was determined to kill her because her brother even snatched a second knife from him after sensing Warmoje was getting out of control.

Kenyans expressed their outrage on twitter using the hashtag #Justice4Fatuma, where they condemned the act and called for justice for Fatuma. Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said Warmoje, who was arrested immediately, will be charged with grievous bodily harm.

The offence attracts a life sentence if found guilty and we hope that justice is going to be delivered.
“The rights of women must be upheld from these beasts. We want the government to be serious on gender-based violence,” activist Sahara Keynan said.

Cases of domestic violence are not new to us. Neither do they happen to women only. Remember that man from Nyeri who was stabbed in the face by his wife for allegedly not ‘performing’ well? And the other ones whose transformers were chopped off? Unfortunately, men rarely speak out when they are abused.

Globally, women and children are the most affected when it comes to Gender-Based Violence.
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains an area of significant concern in Kenya. Historically, both women and children have borne the brunt of cultural ideas and practices that perpetuate sexual and gender-based violence. Such situations affect women and girls in negative ways, and impede their ability to contribute to the progress of the country.

Many cases of women being circumcised have been and are still being reported in certain parts of the country. The barbaric act, just like domestic violence is an act of gender based violence that has to stop.

If you think it’s only in Kenya where these outrageous acts are done, then you are wrong.

Towards the end of last year, in Birmingham, a Knifeman stabbed mother-to-be seven times in the belly when she said she was pregnant. I know you can feel that right through your belly.

The 25-year-old victim said she initially thought Nathaniel Robinson was joking when she told him she was pregnant and he pulled out a large kitchen knife.

But Robinson proceeded to stab the mother-to-be in the belly seven times, almost killing her at the scene. The 25-year-old was rushed to Hospital and both her and her baby boy survived the attack.

Women becoming beasts

In March 2004, a Houston jury convicted Susan Wright of murder and sentenced her to 25 years for stabbing her husband, Jeff, almost 200 times.

When asked where she stabbed him, she testified, “In his head, and in his chest, and in his neck, and in his stomach and in his leg, for when he kicked me. I stabbed him in his penis for all the times that he made me have sex and I didn’t want to. And I couldn’t stop, because he was gonna kill me and I couldn’t stop.”

Can you feel the tone in that woman’s statement? She’s so damn confident that she did the right thing.

Remember the 2007 post-election violence? A high number of gender-based violence cases was reported before, during and after the 2007 general elections. If you think Kenyans learnt any lesson, then the many cases in Nyeri and North Eastern Kenya disapprove that.

The government should work on a structure through the counties and communities to provide services that will:
• Increase survivors’ access to quality medical, legal and psychosocial services;
• Mobilize communities to address the underlying causes of violence;
• Coordinate a more effective response through stronger national and local networks;
• Increase legal accountability for sexual and gender-based violence; and
• Encourage Kenyans, especially men, to speak out and take action.

Remember to say NO to any form of Domestic violence.

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