Wendy Kemunto narrates how her rugby playing friends assaulted and raped her
“If you don’t fight, silence will kill you,” those are the words that kept Wendy Kemunto going after she was assaulted and abused by two Kenyan rugby players on February, 2018.
The singer, while appearing on Unscripted with Grace on NTV, recalled the events of that fateful night as she was planning to celebrate her birthday.
GANG RAPED
“It was my birthday, 10th of February (2018) and the plan was to go out with my friends, have a good time then go back home but unfortunately due to various reasons things didn’t go as I had planned,” Wendy recalls.
She ended up at her friend’s place that night, but the friend and his friend turned out to be her assailants.
Alex Olaba and Frank Wanyama, according to Kemunto, assaulted and raped her the whole night. A magistrate has convicted the two of gang rape and jailed them for 15 years.
“Unfortunately I was assaulted and abused that night. I didn’t realize what was happening at first because I was unconscious. I was slipping in and out of unconsciousness,” she added.
She believes that the players drugged her and that is why she was in and out of consciousness during the whole incident.
“I was very okay when I got there, I admit that it was my birthday and we had a few but at the same time I knew I was aware of my surroundings,” said Kemunto.
Each time she tried to escape Olaba and Wanyama became aggressive and that sacred her and she was afraid for it to turn too physical.
SUICIDAL
“I just let them do what they wanted until they eventually stopped and that’s when I decided to leave,” she narrated.
The weird thing is that Kemunto’s assailants acted normal even after they had violated her. She says they even thanked her and asked her to come with a friend “next time”.
When she broke the news to the doctor where she was taken by her friend, Kemunto says the doctor was shocked and at first did not know how to handle her.
She never reported the matter to the police because she felt it was her fault and she also wanted to avoid narrating the whole ordeal to the police.
“I did not feel the need at that time and I felt the matter won’t go anywhere because based on the knowledge I had based on past cases; I don’t think I have ever seen someone get justice,” Kemunto said.
In the days that followed, Kemunto wanted to committee suicide; she needed a safe space but was not sure if any existed for her to open up.
“I was very scared and I wanted to kill myself, I even tried. I bought a lot of pills because I really wanted to end my life,” she says.
MISCARRIAGE
Three weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant and that broke her into pieces but she still wanted to keep the baby.
“At first, I did not want to keep the baby but after talking to different parties and women who had been in the same situation I released it was not the child’s fault,” she narrates.
The pregnancy period was very difficult for her as the news of her assault made rounds on social media.
“That affected me very much and in my fifth month I had a miscarriage. The doctors said it was due to stress and the environment I was in,” she says.
Kemunto said she was shocked when her assailants were sentenced to 15 years in jailed by Milimani Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku which brought closure for her.
“I was in denial and I knew as much as I was grateful for the support in terms of legal process I was getting, I was sure am not gonna win this case,” Kemunto said.
Her biggest lesson from the whole incident was, “to accept whatever you are feeling, if its anger, if its blame, all those different emotions, don’t push it down.”
She admits that it’s a journey that never ends because she still has those days that she breaks down and remembers everything that happened to her that night.