Lead image for Kenya has no specific crime called domestic violence, police say .
Government data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that domestic violence affects nearly half of women in some counties, with prevalence as high as 48 per cent and as low as nine per cent in others. But can a woman or a man walk into a police station and report domestic violence as a crime committed against them?
According to Muchiri Nyaga, spokesperson for the National Police Service, the answer is no. “We don't have a crime called domestic violence,” he said. “We have specific Acts because you have to describe that in the charge sheet. We have something called particulars of the offence.”
He said the starting point is always the incident itself. “If someone says they have been assaulted, beaten, stabbed or grievously harmed, that is the act the police investigate. We don’t ask, ‘But what is the relationship between the person that has injured you?’ That is never, ever a consideration. It can only come later.”
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He said the relationship becomes relevant during investigations, helping to establish the circumstances surrounding the alleged offence. He drew a parallel with femicide, noting that no charge sheet specifically accuses someone of it. “Killing a woman is treated as murder, with the circumstances including the fact that the victim was a woman and the nature of the relationship, providing context,” he said.
Once an offence has been reported, he said, a criminal file is opened, and investigations follow. These include recording statements, gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses. If there have been previous episodes of abuse, these are also captured as part of the evidence, he said.
“For the investigating officer, in the present circumstances, it would be just about to compile all of the other previous cases and link them all up when preparing this file,” he said. “The history of the relationship can therefore be considered, but the specific criminal act remains the primary focus.”
Read: When love hurts: One in four young women in Nairobi face domestic violence