The curtain has finally come down on the tragic case of Kenza, the young cleaning lady whose story shocked public opinion in Morocco. Kidnapped, assaulted and subjected to unimaginable torture by her employer and his wife, Kenza succeeded in bringing her case to justice.
After months of physical and mental suffering, the Benslimane court of first instance delivered its long-awaited verdict: five years’ imprisonment for the torturers. But beyond the prison walls, the burning question remains: when will there be real protection for domestic workers in the Kingdom?
On Thursday evening, the Benslimane court sentenced the wife, found guilty of identity theft and assault and battery, to three years in prison. Her husband, accused mainly of acts of violence, was sentenced to two years. While the wife will also have to pay a fine of 90,000 dirhams and her husband 60,000 dirhams, the shadow of Kenza’s ordeal still hangs over this verdict.
For the young woman from the Settat area, justice does not put an end to her nightmares. She wears the indelible marks of her ordeal on a daily basis: fractures, scars, persistent pain.
The details of this case are chilling. Kenza, employed in a house in Mansouria, was repeatedly abused by her employers. The husband, visibly drunk with rage, hit her with a bottle of wine or, worse still, with a rolling pin. As for his wife, the blows rained down, accompanied by unheard-of verbal violence.
And that’s not all: the couple’s marital disputes turned into outbursts of hatred, of which Kenza was the main victim. She became the receptacle for the frustrations of her employers, who seemed to find some kind of outlet in torturing an innocent soul.
Kenza’s voice against the executioners’ denials
In court, Kenza recounted her ordeal in simple but poignant words. She testified to the daily brutality that destroyed her, to blows so violent that she lost control of her body, to the point where she could no longer hold back from urinating.
A witness, the janitor of the residence, confirmed the violence, reporting an unbearable scene of suffering. The husband and wife defended themselves to the bitter end. They alleged that Kenza was suffering from a mental disorder and had inflicted the injuries on herself. But the medical evidence was overwhelming: multiple fractures, gaping wounds, and a right hand so badly damaged it required three hours of surgery.
While the court has done its duty, society cannot turn a blind eye. Behind this case lies a much broader reality: that of domestic workers, often invisible, vulnerable and exposed to monstrous abuse. Despite herself, Kenza has become a symbol. A symbol of the silenced voices that too often go unheard in the courts.
The associations and women’s rights activists who followed this case closely called for exemplary sanctions. For every Kenza who manages to face up to her torturers, how many others remain in the shadows, crushed by a system that is slow to protect them?
Kenza’s case is a mirror held up to society, reminding us that human dignity cannot be sacrificed for the sake of silence. In the meantime, the verdict is in, but the fight for social justice and the protection of domestic workers has only just begun. For while five years in prison may close a judicial chapter, it does not heal the wounds of the soul or even the body.
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