A section of Malindi Town. [Photo/ tripadvisor.com]
Old men in selected areas of Coast region defile their young daughters to get protection from ancestors, a gender-based violence group in Malindi has revealed.Others who perform the ‘ritual’ are witch doctors who believe they would get divine power to exercise their ceremonies, Malindi Gender-Based Violence Network said on Thursday.According to the civil rights group, the perpetrators of incest believe the act helps in amassing wealth when they sleep with their young daughters.“Most of the cases involve close family members who are out to cure some diseases or amass wealth leading to both men and women defiling their young girls,” the organisation’s coordinator Hilda Esliy said.She said a case study done in Ganda Ward in Malindi Sub-County showed key perpetrators are elderly men some of them over 50 years.“Ganda village is notorious with cases of defilement. A week does not go without an incident being reported,” Esliy said.