A Mombasa court was put in sombre mood after a deaf witness, through a sign language interpreter, narrated to the court how the justice system has failed them.
The deaf witness, wearing a gloomy and wearingly demeanour started his submissions, “Your honour, even if someone beats me I can not go to report because no police station in Kenya has a deaf interpreter.”
The witness continued to narrate to the court how many criminal cases have gone unprosecuted in the country. In some cases, the witness says, they are turned away by police who cannot help them because of the language barrier.
The deaf couple was testifying in a case where fellow tenants and their landlord had ganged up to constantly frustrate them because of their disability.
The man told the court how his wife lost her pregnancy after she was, on several occasions, beaten by his neighbor’s wife.
But when they went to report the matter to the police they were chased away since no police could understand them.
