In Summary
- Avril shared pictures calling out Her Baby Daddy for allegedly assaulting her
- Kenyans Reacts to the alleged Assault Case
Kitu Kimoja Hit maker Avril took to her social media page sharing images of her visibly bruised/bandaged face calling out her baby daddy J. Blessing for physically assaulting her.
With no added context, Avril wrote, “Unikome mbwa hii.”
Though the singer would later delete the post, Kenyans have taken to social media reacting to the alleged assault case.
Are Kenyans Normalizing GBV
A stroll through X , however depicts comments that might show a scenario where netizens are normalizing cases of gender based violence
Here are some of the reactions to Avril’s post:
‘’Kuna dem atasema at least ako Na iPhone to record the beatings. By the way Avril Ni mtu mkubwa Na amekua akilimwa for long Na amenyamazia Adi Leo women should understand choice have consequences you choose an abusive partner you get abuses and proper beatings’’
‘’When you’re assaulted for the 1st time I can blame the abuser but after that I blame the victim because abusers never change… they don’t… they’ll make all promises to change but they won’t. It’s the law of nature…’’
‘’Women choosing men like J Blessing because they’re famous with well-articulated body muscles over a man like my local shop owner Maina yet Maina is more of a keeper than J Blessings. Acha kirambe huyo Avril whatever her name is.’’
Calls To Report GBV Cases
Njeri Migwi Founder of ‘’Usikimye’’ in a statement shared on X has urged women to report cases of violence
‘’Avril is a victim of Intimate Partner violence and from the pictures shared not first time either just goes to show how pervasive & widespread GBV is , across all cadres of life. Women please report, get that OB, P3 & medical report . Don’t let shame /society silence you’’ Wrote Njeri
Netizens send Love messages to Avril
Some netizens have however sent words of encouragement to Avril
”J blessing is a woman beater?! God! I hope avril is ok”
Is J blessings Okay ?
A section of netizens have raised concerns on the well being of celebrated music producer J blessings as captured below
‘’I for one can’t feel sorry for Avril. She’s not hopeless and powerless. In fact, I think she’s seeking empathy. And the attention too. Women are addicted to attention. I hope J Blessing is okay he might be the true victim.’’
”Nataka kuskia side ya J Blessing . Labda ata ilikua self defence.”
With a few days to the start of The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence which is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25 November, there has been calls to create safer online spaces for all to thrive.
