As the country culminates the 16 days of GBV, a 27-year-old mother of three is in police custody after injuring her six-year-old child with a panga, slashing him four times on the head and face for failing to peel potatoes in Gacharage village, Kuresoi North, Nakuru County.
The incident happened in Gacharage village in Kuresoi North and has left many shocked by such an inhumane act from a parent, even as she awaits to be arraigned at Molo law court.
Confirming the incident, area police commander Julius Kadenge noted that the young boy who had gone to play in the neighbourhood was assaulted by his mother upon her return from work and found that she was yet to do the assignment.
The boy was rushed to the hospital with head injuries by neighbours who ran to his rescue, who later reported the matter to the police.
He has since been taken home after the medics stabilised his condition.
Neighbours recounted that the woman locked the house and attacked the child with a panga, slashing him four times on the head and face.
According to Sirikwa location Chief Elijah Cheruiyot, the woman, out of anger, used a sharp object against the child, which left him with deep cuts on the forehead.
“I received an alert from a nyumba kumi elder about the situation and I tried to coordinate a response with them due to the injury of the boy,” said area Chief Cheruiyot.
As the world shifts focus on GBV against women and girls, the boy child remains vulnerable in the society in recent days, with little attention being given to them despite the immense pain they undergo in the society.
Some protection and child protection actors argue that GBV is a broad term which should include different forms of gendered and sexualised violence, such as sexual violence directed at men and forced recruitment of boys into fighting forces.
For others, gender-based violence is synonymous with violence against women.
By Absalom Namwalo
