A case of sodomy involving an Italian national and woman that has been at the center of investigation by Diani police, Office of the Director of public prosecution in Kwale and Tourist police department has taken a new twist after the complainant stormed ODPP office in Kwale demanding to be furnished with information.
On 18 January 2023, the ODPP office in Kwale wrote a letter to the Diani police detailing the reasons behind closing the case after claiming there was no evidence to take the case to court.
This is despite the complainant having submitted hospital documents that indicated she was sodomised.
‘I went there to get a copy of the letter that the ODPP official in Kwale sent to Diani police but she did not give me anything. She locked herself in the office,” claimed the complainant.
“It is my right to get information about any move that my case is taking because I was the one sexually abused and I feel some people are doing everything possible to deny me justice ,”she said.
Fatuma, not her real name, claimed in a statement that she was sexually assaulted and sodomised by the Italian national between 5th , 18th and 20th October 2022.
Coast Times Digital has established that Fatuma reported the matter at Kadzandani police station under OB number 25/06/2022 where the issue was handled before being referred to Diani police station under OB number 75/17/11/2022.
Msambweni assistant deputy sub-county commander George Oswago confirmed to the media that the suspect had been arrested after the matter was reported and released on police cash bail of Sh70, 000 before receiving a letter from the ODPP office in Kwale.
“According to this letter that we have received it means that the case is closed so what we will do is return the Sh70, 000 to the person,” he said.
Earlier Oswago had said that the police work of investigating and forwarding the file to the office of ODPP kwale was complete awaiting further directions.
“If they tell us to take the person to court we are ready, that is what we will do,” said the deputy police commander.
It is not clear why the ODPP office in Kwale has refused to furnish the complainant with the information.
In a letter that Coast Times has obtained federation of Women lawyers in Kenya had written to the ODPP in Kwale on the issue requesting to understand why the suspect had not been arrested since Fatuma claimed was not safe.
Contacted for comment about the matter at hand, Kwale director of public prosecution Rosemary Nandi said that she had done everything under her jurisdiction to prepare the Fatuma file.
‘I have written the letter to Diani police and the same letter is in the file so she can get it. The file will go to my boss in Mombasa for further advice because my advice is not final. Once my bosses are through with it then police will be notified on which action to take,” she said.
Earlier, Nandi had claimed that the case file had a lot of gaps that she had instructed the investigating officials to work on before it was returned to her office.
Another letter written from Mombasa ODPP to Nandi on 9 December 2022 indicated that Nandi had identified gaps in the Fatuma file that needed to be worked on.
“The above matter and your letter of 7 December 2022 forwarding the duplicate file refer. I have noted the gaps as identified by yourself. Kindly proceed to direct the investigating officer accordingly and submit the file to me once the identified gaps have been filled for your further directions,” she the letter
“For Hassan Abdi, senior assistant director of public prosecutions regional coordinator-Coast”
Fatuma told the Coast Times that she is being frustrated by government officials not to get justice after being sexually assaulted and further Sodomised by a person she knows despite providing all required evidence.
She wants the office of Odpp in Mombasa and Nairobi to intervene for her to get justice.
