woman, her two daughters and a niece were gang-raped in Ongata Rongai on Sunday night after a mob of six accosted them some 500 metres from their home.

The mother of five had gone to church with her three daughters — aged nine, 11 and 14 — and after service the four passed by a relative’s house to pick up the kin’s two daughters — aged four and 13 — who wanted to visit her.

They left her brother’s house at around 6.45pm for their home in Rangau, a new settlement about three kilometres away.

ARMED MEN

The scene in Rangau area in Ongata Rongai where the incident happened. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI

The six family members were, however, confronted by six men armed with pangas and crude weapons about 500 metres from their house.

The attackers robbed the victims of money and mobile phones, and harassed the woman and the three older girls.

Sensing that the men would molest them, the woman screamed for help and started running to a neighbour’s home.

She had barely covered 10 metres when one of the attackers hit her with a stone in the back of her head, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Two of the thugs then dragged her back to the dusty road where her daughters stood in dazed silence, unable to comprehend what was happening, and unaware of the three-hour ordeal awaiting them.

The woman and the girls were then dragged into a small thicket about 700 metres from the dirt road, where the men, described by one of the girls as “youngish”, took turns raping the woman, her two daughters and the visiting niece.

NOT IN A HURRY

The scene of the attack is emblematic of the home ownership dreams of the average Kenyan. Hundreds of gleaming maisonettes and bungalows jostle for space here.

Children play on the narrow dirt roads, riding bicycles, playing football, and making merry.

Rangau, in a nutshell, is a carbon copy of Nairobi’s new suburbs of the last five years; expansive, breezy, and twinkling.

It is here the victims settled a few years ago, drawn on one hand by the promise of a quiet life away from the bustle of Ongata Rongai, and on the other by commercial potential of the area.

That quiet life was, however, shattered on Sunday evening in the most brutal way. The gang was not in a hurry, according to one of the victims. Three men took turns attacking her under the dark skies of the Maasai plains, while the children, screaming and wailing, were defiled by two men each.

The two younger girls — the woman’s daughter aged nine and her niece, aged four — were separated from the rest and ordered to lie face-down a few metres away, where they remained for the agonising duration of the ordeal.

The crime scene. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI

NEIGHBOUR ATTACKED

A neighbour, Mr Nicholas Gitonga, heard commotion in the thicket and rushed to see what was happening, but was attacked with a panga by one of the thugs.

He sustained a deep cut in the back of his head, and lay barely conscious on the ground, with the rest of the victims, for hours.

Another neighbour, Mr David Manyala, was also attacked by the same gang and detained at the scene as the robbers went on with its vile act.

They robbed the victims of four mobile phones and a total of Sh16,000, and melted into the night.

The victims reported the incident to Olekasasi Police Post, about three kilometres away, before seeking medical attention at the Ongata Rongai branch of Nairobi Women’s Hospital.

On Tuesday, the woman’s husband said his wife and daughters were treated and discharged the same night, but would undergo counselling.

POLICE LAXITY

Almost 48 hours after the incident, police had not visited the scene of crime.

The Olekasasi Police Post where the victims first reported the crime falls under the jurisdiction of Ongata Rongai Police Station.

As a result, officers at the station did not take any action, claiming that the area, though near Ongata Rongai, falls under the jurisdiction of Kitengela Police Station, about seven kilometres away.

Though the victims were issued with the police medical examination forms, popularly known as P3 forms, the detectives investigating the matter did not take any of the victim’s clothing, which apart from their evidentiary value, could be used as exhibits in the case.

The woman’s husband, an employee of a tourist lodge, said that he was away at work when his family was attacked and got the report at around midnight. He rushed to the hospital where he found them.