A week following the awarding of Sh9 million ($87,070) to Tony Mochama in his sexual assault defamation suit against Shailja Patel and Wambui Mwangi, including an order for a written apology to him and prohibition from any statements against him, Patel has now reacted. On 14 August, she Tweeted that she is “speaking of my own accord, with no instruction or affiliation to any other party in the case.” She described the activist Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi, who testified for Mochama, and the magistrate A.M. Obura as “partners-in-crime” who “need to silence me permanently on Tony Mochama’s sexual assaults, obstruction of justice, abuse of the judicial process.” Sharing documents on the case, she stated that she had “left Kenya. I’ve gone into exile, knowing I face jail if I ever come home.”
Read the full thread below.
“Women who talk too much need to be beaten,” said Tony Mochama, at the ‘Future of Men’ panel, Storymoja Festival, 21 September 2014.
Women walked out in protest.
I’m speaking of my own accord, with no instruction or affiliation to any other party in the case. pic.twitter.com/1n3xE0VJn4
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
On 6 August 2019, Tony Mochama and his partners-in-crime, Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi and magistrate A.M. Obura, delivered yet another beating to women who talk too much. A beating chillingly intended to silence all Kenyan women about sexual violence. Forever.
I refuse it.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Immediately following the ruling, Tony Mochama and Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi rolled out their meticulously planned media blitz. As intended, I was deluged with hate messages and threats. The threats included public beating, corrective rape, and death.
I refuse them all.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Tony Mochama and Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi *need* to silence me permanently on Tony Mochama’s sexual assaults, obstruction of justice, abuse of the judicial process; on Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi’s lies to the police and perjury under oath in court. Hence the gag injunction.
I refuse.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Tony Mochama and Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi need to publicly humiliate me, strip me of credibility and disappear me from public life, so they never have to face me again and be reflected back to themselves in truth. Hence the demand for a written apology.
I refuse.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Tony Mochama, Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi, and A.M. Obura need to shut down any possibility of a #MeToo in Kenya. To deter all Kenyans from sexual-violence whistleblowing with the sledgehammer of financial ruin. Hence the baseless, punitive, amount of damages.
I refuse.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
I’ve left Kenya. I’ve gone into exile, knowing I face jail if I ever come home. Tony Mochama and Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi will not silence me.
They will not humiliate me.
They will not disappear me.
They will not break me.They
Will
Not
Take
My
Voice.— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Amilcar Cabral said “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories…”
That’s what I’m here to do. That’s what Tony Mochama and Wanjeri Nderu-Musembi fear.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Tony Mochama said “women who talk too much need to be beaten.” This is one of the women he means.
“I am old enough to be his mother. I am a mother and a grandmother.” pic.twitter.com/Nj5WwbChFW
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Tony Mochama said “women who talk too much need to be beaten.” This woman knows he isn’t joking. She has to encounter him in her daily work. pic.twitter.com/GyV3aeWIqc
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Professor Wambui Mwangi called Tony Mochama a rapist. With good reason. Tony Mochama assaulted Professor Wambui Mwangi on three separate occasions.
“I weigh about 43 kilos with all my clothes on,” Professor Mwangi has written elsewhere. “Most 14-year-olds are taller than me.” pic.twitter.com/XtI5IO6huj
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
“Women who talk too much,” said Tony Mochama, “need to be beaten.”
I talked to the police about Tony Mochama assaulting me. pic.twitter.com/1LpwK34xlF
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
Three women reported Tony Mochama to the police for assaulting them. Two years later:
“Insufficient evidence to prosecute.”
“What would sufficient evidence be?”
“CCTV camera footage,” they said. @ODPP_KE never responded to this petition👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/N2L0lmmd9W
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
After Tony Mochama assaulted me in 2014, I wrote:
“Our bodies are our first homes. If we are not safe in our bodies, we are always homeless.”
Tony Mochama has unhomed many women. He evicted me from my own body with his assault. Now he seeks to evict me from my own voice.
NO.
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) August 14, 2019
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