victim. Having established the foundations, the Commission now turns to
consider whether the Respondent State fulfilled this duty.
137.
The Complainant submit that the Respondent State failed to conduct an
effective investigation into allegations of conduct that amounted to cruel,
inhumane and degrading treatment.57 The Complainants allege that the victim was
sexually assaulted, burnt with cigarettes on her breasts, forced to commit sexual
acts including bondage and dominance; had her hair pulled; was physically
assaulted; forced to fight another woman while her rapists watched and forced to
consume drugs and lose consciousness for hours. 58They submit that this treatment
against the victim was physically and emotionally traumatic and amounts to cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment as prohibited in Article .5 of the Charter. 59
Moreover, and more specifically, the Complainants aver that the victim was
subjected to T.I.P and the Respondent State did not exercise its duty to prevent,
investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators. 60
·:
138.
The core of the Complainant's case is the failure of the Respondent State to
conduct an effective investi'gation into the case of cruel, inhumane and degrading
treatment, as well as T.I.P; The €omplainant' s indictment of the Respondent
State's investigation is premised, on several issues. Firstly, the Complainants allege
that the when the victim reported that she was a victim of T.I.P, the police
in~errogated and threatened her with criminal sanctions. Secondly, despite noting
that the victim was a Kenyan citizen, the police refused to take her to the Kenyan
High Commission as she had requested. Thirdly, the Complainants raise issue
with the fact that the laptop and cell phone that the victim had handed in as
evidence of her T.I.P was surrendered to a person, she alleged to be one of the
traffickers under the belief that he was the victim' s father. The fifth aspect the
Complaina11;ts condemn is the premature closure of the investigation by the 14th of
June 2018, on the basis of lack of evidence. The sixth isw .~- ,. e victim was
booked as an illegal immigrant and detained at a pre~! e)5or'tl{n
~ · . Finally,
the Complainants submit that the letter from th ./Pro ~utor enl :., 1 giving
confirmation to the Police that there were gaps in ..."-' i: es: · ·
a prima
fade case of T.I.P is further evidence of an ineffecti <t • •ilk sno~
;Ji\
•
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57 Complainanl's Submissions, para 17
ss Complainant's Submissions, para 8-11;
59 Complainant's Submissions, para 31-70
60 Complainant's Submissions, para 71-88
31
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