Court
A court in Eldoret was stunned when Hillary Kiprotich alias Shieys Chepkosgei stated that he prefers to be recognized as a woman rather than a man despite having male organs.
Chepkosgei has sued the Attorney General, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), and the Kenya Prison Service for violating her rights. Her list of prosecutions also includes the Kenya Police Service and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Chepkosgei who identifies as a transgender person has filed the case before Justice Reuben Nyakundi through her lawyer Colber Ojiambo seeking compensation over the mistreatment she was subjected to when she was arrested by the police officers six years ago.
The 27-year-old claimed that after her arrest, she was subjected to intrusive body search involving stripping and touching of her body parts at the Eldoret women GK prison and at the Eldoret central police station. She alleged that during the body search, she was subjected to brutal and degrading treatment, as well as mental anguish and discomfort.
The Judge was forced to stand her down in the dock and order a 30-minute recess when she burst into tears while recalling two occurrences that she claimed breached her right to privacy and human dignity.
“Let us break for some minutes to allow her to calm down before we resume the court session. Just take your sit and relax a bit, I know it is stressing moment,” said the Judge. The court heard that Chepkosgei was seized by a team of police officers from the Central police station at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital emergency unit where she was pretending to be a female nursing student.
Her arrest followed an alarm that was raised by nurses who were on duty on the morning of the material day at the emergency unit after they realized that she was an imposter. Chepkosgei shocked the packed court when she confessed to being physically and biologically male but prefers to identify herself as being female.
She went on to tell Justice Nyakundi that presumed a male, was circumcised according to Kalenjin customs and that when aged15, wanted to be treated as a woman and changed his lifestyle to reflect this. This includes faking documents to show his status in an ID card as Shieys Chepkogei, thereby discarding her birth name, Hillary Kiprotich.
The court was treated to more astonishing revelation that she has participated in several athletic competitions’ events outside the country as a female athlete. In the lawsuit filed against the four government institutions, she claims that her rights were violated by police officers, prison and health officers during her arrest in June 2019.
She is seeking compensation for the distressing and harmful experience she claims to have endured including sexual harassment by the prison and regular police officers at their respective workstations where she was held in custody during her arrest.
She has, however, left it up to the court to decide how much money should be given as compensation. Chepkosgei told the court that despite being born male, she realized from childhood that she identified more with the female gender.
“My father who is now deceased would refer to me as his daughter. Twelve years ago, I decided to change my name from Hillary Kiprotich to Shieys Chepkosgei,” she stated. She narrated that she was arrested at the MTRH for impersonation allegations on June 14, 2019 and was detained at the facility’s police station where she was questioned before being moved to the Eldoret central police station.
On the next day, she was arraigned at the lower court and committed to remand at the Eldoret Women prison which is a female detention facility.
However, during the routine checks, the prison officers were shocked to find out that the remandee was male.
“I have faced stigma and discrimination. When police officers who were investigating my case found me at the male cells, they questioned my sexuality. They wondered that I had been arraigned in court as a woman and now here I was in the male cells. The officers assaulted me and also undressed me and said that I was giving them a hard time,” said Chepkosgei.
Justice Nyakundi has requested that an expert on transgender and sexual orientation issues appear in court to testify noting that the expert’s contribution will assist the court in deciding the case brought by Shieys Chepkosgei, formerly Hillary Kiprotich.
“We need to hear from an expert who is well-informed with transgender and intersex issues to assist us distinguish between the two. We would prefer an expert who is knowledgeable about both legal and medical issues,” the judge stated.