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The alarm has been sounded about the high number of defilement cases across Kenya.

An 11-year-old mentally challenged girl is the latest victim of defilement in Molo, Nakuru county, with police reports showing that over 20 girls have been sexually assaulted in the area in the past few months.

The Grade Two pupil, who is also epileptic, was defiled in her rural home on Monday, raising concerns about cases reported in the Molo area.

On Wednesday, the girl’s mother reported that she had been defiled by a man well known to her in a bush near the Kiboko river.

Doctors at Molo Sub-County Hospital confirmed the assault.

“The matter is under investigation. Efforts to track down and apprehend the suspect are underway,” the local police commander said.

In another incident in Molo sub-county, a man allegedly sexually assaulted his step-daughter several times since February.

The 12-year-old girl’s mother reported to the Mau Summit police station that her 46-year-old husband had been luring her daughter and defiling her while she was away.

The Grade Six pupil did not open up about the assaults until July 1, when she narrated the ordeal to her mother, explaining that the suspect had threatened to stab her with a knife if she told her mother.

In the same Mau Summit area, a 14-year-old girl was defiled in May. The Grade Seven pupil left home for school that day but never returned in the evening.

When she resurfaced, she reported that a man known to her had lured her to his house, defiled her and then disappeared to an unknown place. The girl’s mother reported the incident to the police but no arrests had been made.

Meanwhile, in the same region, a 19-year-old man was charged in the Nakuru High Court with sexually assaulting and killing three women and an underage girl.

Ezekiel Sakwa Mwangi, also known as Kwame, was linked to several serious crimes in Rongai sub-county, Nakuru County. His arrest on August 18 set off a chain of legal proceedings, beginning with his arraignment at the Molo Law Courts the following day.

The Molo Magistrate Court granted detectives a 30-day window to delve deeper into the case, a task that was soon taken over by homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters.

The investigation uncovered a gruesome timeline of events spanning from July to August. Mwangi is suspected of sexually assaulting and murdering three women and a minor.

The horror began on July 13, when four-year-old Alice Ayuma was found dead in a maize plantation in the Mwangaza area, her body bearing the marks of a brutal assault with a rungu.

Her mother said Ayuma was playing outside with her siblings when it started raining heavily. Her two sons – aged five and two – went back home but Alice did not return.

An autopsy found the cause of death as a blow to the back of the head. The girl had been defiled and had a stick lodged in her vagina. Smaller specs of wood were found in her uterine walls. She also suffered stab wounds in the skull and had rectovaginal fistula.

The violence continued on August 5, when Virginia Njeri Mwangi met a similar fate at the Menengai prayer cave. The following day, in Kalyet village, 34-year-old Florence Mueni Mwalimu was struck down and her body discarded in a bush. The killing spree ended on August 7 along a railway line at Baraka estate, where Vellah Moraa Mogambi was attacked and fatally wounded.

Mwangi was presented in court and pleaded not guilty to all charges and sought release on bond, a request firmly opposed by prosecutors. The case will be mentioned on October 15.