A Kenyan court on Wednesday charged five teenage boys with rape in connection with an incident in which as many as 10 young girls were sexually assaulted outside a high school last month.
The five suspects, arrested on March 29 after three of the alleged victims identified them as their attackers, pleaded not guilty to rape and indecent assault charges before a magistrate’s court in Nyeri in central Kenya.
”They were charged with rape and indecent assault and pleaded not guilty,” Central Province police commander Tom Mutisya told Agence France-Presse from Nyeri, about 100km north of Nairobi. ”They were remanded into custody.”
Nyeri chief magistrate Reuben Nyakundi said he would set a trial date for the boys on Friday.
The girls were allegedly raped when about 700 students of Kangubiri High School in Nyeri protested against the institution’s administration in an overnight March 25-26 demonstration.
The incident has sparked cries of protest across the East African nation, where sexual offences against women, particularly minors, are on the increase.
At least half of all Kenyan women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, with close family members among the perpetrators, according to a demographic health survey carried out
in 2003. — Sapa-AFP