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Two teenage sisters, who claimed they had circumcised each other on Christmas Eve, have been freed by a court after the prosecution failed to prefer charges against them.
The two girls aged 16 and 14 said they had performed the ‘operation’ in their grandmother’s house.
A medical checkup at the Narok County Referral Hospital revealed that they had fresh cuts on their genitals.
While releasing the two sisters, Narok Chief Magistrate George Wakahiu directed the children’s office to counsel the minors because of the trauma associated with the event.
The girls are in class six and seven at a local primary school in Narok West.
The girls, who had been missing for several days, were arrested last week after the authorities received a tip-off from members of the public who suspected they had gone to be circumcised.
The sisters said they lived with their grandmother because life at home was unbearable due to regular quarrels between their parents.
Cases of female genital mutilation are rampant in Narok but the vice is carried out in great secrecy for fear of arrest and prosecution.
The prosecution’s case collapsed on this occasion after the State failed to secure any witnesses to testify against the girls.
Incidents of teenagers claiming to have ‘circumcised themselves’ have been on the rise as the government clamps down on the practitioners of the illegal act.
Last month, teenagers in West Pokot County reportedly resorted to ‘cutting’ themselves after female circumcisers downed their tools for fear of being arrested.
Anti-FGM Board chair Agnes Pareiyo, however, is confident that the vice will be eradicated by 2022.
