Testimony of an Ethiopian Girl Sexually Assaulted by Her Stepfather: a Case Report Yohannes Mehretie Adinew1* , Beza Tamirat Mekete2† and Yimenu Mehretie Adinew3†
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Adinew et al. Journal of Medical Case Reports (2018) 12:231 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-018-1777-x CASE REPORT Open Access Testimony of an Ethiopian girl sexually assaulted by her stepfather: a case report Yohannes Mehretie Adinew1* , Beza Tamirat Mekete2† and Yimenu Mehretie Adinew3† Abstract Background: The sensitiveness and stigma associated with sexual assault deter many victims from speaking about their experiences. This silence of victims worsens the problem, especially in patriarchal communities like Ethiopia where sex is taboo and girls are encouraged to remain behind curtains. Case presentation: This is the personal testimony of a 25-year-old Amhara woman, a student at an Ethiopian public university, and it is presented in her own words. The data were collected during an in-depth interview on 19 April 2015. The interview was conducted in a private environment and her name was concealed to protect her anonymity. A digital voice recorder was used to audio-tape the interview which was later transcribed and translated verbatim from the local language, Amharic, to English. Conclusions: The trouble and pain our participant experienced is beyond description. Four themes emerged from her narrative: Incest assault, repeated assault, feelings of guilt and shame, and orphanhood. Incest is both more common and more severe in stepparent families but reported cases are only the very tip of the iceberg and thus may greatly under-represent actual population rates. Therefore, more effort is required to hold the perpetrators accountable and restore the life of the victims. Keywords: Incest, Intrafamilial child sexual abuse, Child sexual abuse, Stepfather, Ethiopia Background from family perpetrators, stepparents [5, 6]. Child rape Sexual violence against women continues to be a public and molestation continue to contribute to the major health problem. It has a devastating impact on women’s health problems of many girls in Ethiopia; as victims lives. The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) they are more likely to have a major depressive episode, claimed that it was a particularly unkind human rights posttraumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, violation that must be eradicated [1]. and sexual disorders [7]. The sensitiveness and stigma associated with sexual Sexual abuse is a major problem with serious assault deter many victims from speaking about their long-term negative consequences. Raped women require experiences [2]. A culture of sexual discrimination specific health services: psychological support, preven- against girls is common in patriarchal communities like tion of unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infec- Ethiopia, where girls are supposed to stay indoors and tions including human immunodeficiency syndrome serve males [3]. As a result, most perpetrators will not (HIV), and management of injuries [8]. However, public be held accountable. health services for these women are of varied quality in Children from single-parent families and stepfamilies Ethiopia. The scarcity of resources leads to limited op- have a higher risk of victimization compared to those tions for service provision. living with two biological parents [4]. The greatest risk is The short-term and long-term sequelae of child sexual abuse (CSA) are complex; a clear understanding of the sequelae is helpful in planning treatment and directing * Correspondence: [email protected] †Beza Tamirat Mekete and Yimenu Mehretie Adinew contributed equally to allocation of scarce resources. Thus, the aim of this case this work. report is to present one girl’s testimony, in her own 1 College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, words, of her experience of rape and suffering at the Ethiopia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article hands of her stepfather. © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Adinew et al. Journal of Medical Case Reports (2018) 12:231 Page 2 of 6 Case presentation making annoying sounds. He took out his anger by This is the personal testimony of a 25-year-old Amhara breaking any material he found, but he never touched woman, a final year student at an Ethiopian public univer- me as I was obedient and always took care of him. My sity, and it is presented in her own words. The data were sleepless and stressful nights made it difficult to actively collected during an in-depth interview on 19 April 2015. attend my class. As a result, my school performance de- The interview was audio-taped using a digital voice re- clined dramatically. Even though I was disappointed corder. The main topics covered were her personal with my school results and our messy life, I never com- experience as a victim of incest rape, communities’ atti- plained as I thought it was the only way I could help tude, and the stigma and shame she faced as a victim. The mom. Thus, I tried to cope with things, but I had never interview was transcribed and translated verbatim from suspected that there could be worse things in life until the local language, Amharic, to English. The transcript that night.” and translated version of the document were cross-checked with the original interview by an experi- enced sociologist. Incest assault It was another normal day in my office; I was analyzing She remembers the day that put a big scar on her life and data I had collected a week earlier on sexual violence from made her feel disabled with a lot of sadness and rage; she female university students when I heard a knock on my has cried her entire life. After sobbing for a while, she con- door. After I gave permission to enter, a frightened woman tinued, “…that night he came home after midnight blind in her twenties entered. I greeted her and asked if I could drunk as usual. I was all alone as my mom was out for a help. “Last week you said we can visit your office if we have night shift at work. He stood and stared at me like never a story to share on sexual assault. So, I came to tell what before; I was terrified by the way he looked at me, but tried my stepfather did to me when I was young, only if you can to calm him down and serve him dinner. Still staring at make it anonymous and agree to use it after I graduate,” me, he said,‘My today’sdinnerisyou.’ Ididn’thaveaclue she said. I agreed to her preconditions and gave her my what that meant. I giggled and walked to my bedroom. word. Then she told me her story, the secret that has Minutes later, I heard a cracking sound, it was my bed- darkened her life, after a week of dilemma. room door. There my stepfather stood stark naked and She was very nervous; she was not sure where to begin asked me if I was ready to have sex with him. I was deeply her story. I told her to take time and comfort herself shocked to see him like that. It was a total nightmare. How first, and after taking a deep breath she started narrating, in the world does a father talk to his daughter like that? I “…My mom was a young, hardworking, single mother. I remember that my body was shaking and I was hoping he was her only child as my father passed away when I was would leave, but that didn’t happen. He suddenly jumped only two. Life was very tough for us; she had to work a onto my bed, throttled me, tore my dress and removed double shift for us to survive. We lived alone for six years everything I was wearing including my underwear. I was then she started to see a humble guy. A year later he only fifteen by then; only fifteen. I was confused and moved in and changed our life remarkably as he was couldn’t even figure out what was going on. Let alone gainfully employed. I was very happy to see a smile on shouting or fighting back I couldn’t even breathe as I was my mom’s face; she even upgraded her education and got suffocated. Then Heeee ra…ped me (she cried for a while her bachelor degree and became a professional nurse. I and stared at the tape recorder, her eyes were full of re- was also transferred to a better school and my academic venge and I could see every disappointment in her),hmm performance increased. It was a joy to have a supportive he enjoyed every bit of my pain and left me in tears in my father and a caring mother.” mom’s home. I cried the whole night; I felt like there was dirt all over my body that could never be cleansed. I “Our happiness didn’t last long. Things started to wished it to be a dream but it was not. Early next morning, change as my mom continued to spend more nights at he came to my room and told me to wash my body and work. I heard them arguing every single night as my the bed sheet before mom returns. I was amused and angry father was jealous of her contacts with her coworkers at the same time by his statement; I thought that because and the way she dressed.