Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Offences in Relation to Forensic Medical Evidence in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya police annual reports show that sexual offences are escalating in Kenya. This study was done to find out the challenges the police officers within Kiambu County faced in the course of evidence collection, investigation and prosecution of sexual offences in Kiambu County, Kenya. The research involved conducting interviews and administration of Likert scale questionnaire for police officers trained on handling sexual offenses as the key informants, and use of data abstraction tool to collect data from the police record files in the year 2016. Analysis of P3 forms indicated that 50% of reported victims had hymen broken, 40.9% had genital lacerations and 9.1% had hymen intact. It was established common laboratory tests ordered in rape cases are: high vaginal swab (77.3%), HIV (95.5%), pregnancy (77.3%) and DNA analysis (13.6%). Great amount of evidence (77%) collected in rape investigation is not sent to forensic laboratories for analysis. The other setbacks included lack of collaboration between the police gender department and other government agencies like health facilities handling cases of sexual offences, and inadequate support for the gender offices to effectively handle cases of sexual offences. Only a third of reported sexual offence cases reach full trial. Inadequacies were observed in filling of the P3 and Post Rape Care (PRC) forms and there was lack of adherence to chain of custody in evidence handling. Challenges in investigation and prosecution of sexual offences adversely affects justice for the victims. Recommendation for continuous specialised training to clinicians on forensic medical evidence, infrastructural upgrade, modern tools for gender departments and a multidisciplinary approaches in handling sexual offences.