Gbetu TV (News They Are Not Talking About)
A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced two rugby players to 15 years in prison for the gang rape of a female singer at a birthday party in 2018.
The international rugby sevens players, Frank Wanyama, 24, and Alex Olaba, 23, were in early August found guilty of the rape in a case which highlighted what some activists refer to as a tradition of “rape culture” in rugby.
Milimani High Court Martha Mutuku handed down the sentences of 15 years imprisonment saying “a deterrent sentence is necessary.”
The trial was held in-camera, so details of the evidence provided were not made public.
Mutuku declined a request from the defence lawyers that their clients be allowed to avoid jail time due to their youth and the fact that they had shown remorse.
Wanyama and Olaba, who were both university students when the rape took place, play for the Nairobi Harlequins club and have played for the national sevens team in global tournaments.
Wanyama captained Kenya’s second sevens team to win the Victoria Sevens tournament in Zimbabwe in March last year, while Olaba has played as a winger for both the sevens and 15-aside national teams.
Both were suspended from playing when their trial began.
Last year after a series of allegations against rugby players, gender violence activist Nafula Wafula created a petition urging the Kenya Rugby Union to take measures to address accusations of sexual assault, including giving mandatory training to players.
“The rape culture that is ingrained in the sports industry must be dealt with accordingly,” she wrote in the petition which gathered just over 10,000 signatures.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has concluded plans to release the results of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation…
Cardiologists and public health physicians have warned Nigerians against excessive consumption of cold water, stressing that it can lead to…
The Chang’e 6, China’s next robotic spacecraft to the moon, has been scheduled to set out on its journey in…
Gbenga Oloniniran writes about the discrimination experienced by some Nigerians on the premises of foreign businesses where they are met…
It's scientifically ambitious. It's aeronautically daring. And it's unflinchingly expensive. It's NASA's newly approved mission to Saturn's moon, Titan, where…
Since the coup d’état on May 24, 2021, a transition government has been in charge of Mali and shows no…