Berna’s case exposes harsh reality for women accused of crimes

Domestic violence and abuse causes immense suffering to women, yet women are still treated very harshly when accused of violent crime whether innocent or guilty.

Three months ago, Mr Joseph Olokojo was murdered when unknown assailants poured petrol and set him on fire at his home in Tororo District (See Daily Monitor of November 1). 

Police questioned the widow Bernadette, a head teacher, at the family home at length. After the funeral the widow was arrested, brought before court, charged with murder and remanded at Morikatipe prison.

Bail was denied and continued to be denied when she appeared monthly in court for mention of her case. Then quite abruptly she was released last week when the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dropped all charges against her and said they were withdrawing proceedings but investigations would continue.

My concern is with the low prioritisation of murders of women compared to other murders or other crimes generally.

It’s all too easy to dismiss a case when a man has allegedly forced his wife to drink poison after a domestic altercation and then reported it as case of suicide. 

This was the case when a mother of three, was found dead at Pott C Village in Iyolwa Sub-county, Tororo in November last year.

MIFUMI, an international non-governmental women's rights organisation, requested police to look into the case which had been recorded as suicide.

Forensics returned a conclusion of no evidence of murder yet the circumstances warranted further investigation.

Earlier in October last year, also in Tororo, a young boy out early one morning hunting for birds discovered a woman hanging from a tree when drops of blood fell on him. 

Helen Ezewo, better known as Brenda (the name of her business) was a young Sudanese woman and suspicions were focused on a Kenyan businessman, who had been communicating to her by phone.

A witness who glimpsed the body said her chest was bandaged as though the breasts had been cut and cotton was stuffed in her eyes as though they had been gouged out. Sniffer dogs were brought and these apparently led police straight to the businessman’s shop. 

There have been no charges and no arrests. A verdict of suicide was returned and back in South Sudan, Helen’s father received his daughter’s body.

Could the police take the same interest in these gruesome murders?

The difference between how men and women are treated when accused of committing crime is quite stark. Women and girls suffered regularly at the hands of men but their brutal murders and torture go unremarked. 

Justice is not served; the wheels of justice do not grind, yet when a woman is accused of crime, the wheels kick in heavily.

International statistics indicate that about 70 percent of women are killed by their intimate partners or men known to them, i.e., through domestic violence.

The DPP’s office should do a shake-up of all the cases of women murdered or killed which are closed or pending. The case of Ezewo should be reopened. Both the Kenyan and Sudanese Embassy should surely be interested enough to request an investigation. 

The case of the woman said to have committed suicide by drinking poison should be reopened and the person behind the gruesome murder of Mr Olokojo should be found.

We have seen police spend resources and act efficiently when women are accused of murders. But when women are killed, we hear the same old story - no evidence, verdict of suicide, no resources to investigate, case closed. 

Organisations like MIFUMI have to use their own resources to support the investigation of such crimes, and still we are left feeling justice has been denied. We should, therefore, see much more resources aimed at trying to resolve crimes against women.

Dr Atuki Turner is the executive director of MIFUMI
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