Elderly rape victims turn to self-defence

In the sludge-covered alleyways of the Korogocho slum, 50 women, many of them grandmothers, have enrolled in twice-a-week self-defence classes.

The women have enlisted the help of 70-year-old Mary Wangui and her much younger fellow instructor Sheila Kariuki because they say police rarely patrol the iron-roofed shanties.

When suspected rapists are reported to the police, they often bribe their way to freedom.

One Nairobi hospital treated 437 rape victims over 60 last year. Many criminals believe that sex with an elderly women can cure them of Aids.

At the Korogocho community hall, elderly women clad in headscarves, long skirts and petticoats pounded punchbags.

"No, no, no!" screamed Ms Wangui as she forced Ms Kariuki backwards with a series of open-palm blows on a hitting pad, cheered by a group of around 30 women aged between 50 and 80.

Dr Jake Sinclair, a founding member of Ujamaa, an organisation that helps rape victims and holds self-defence classes, said grandmothers were often raising their children's children.

Human rights campaigners say many police do not consider rape a serious crime and one woman in her 80s who has been raped twice said no arrests were made when her friend was raped and killed even though she could identify the attacker.