Nairobi, April 18 -- This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Centre.

One night in 2021, a year after the Covid-19 pandemic hit Kenya, an IT specialist in Nairobi faced a harrowing ordeal in his own home. Despite having recently purchased the house with his banker wife, who earned a higher income, their marriage was on rocky grounds. Frequent quarrels erupted over the property ownership, which was solely under her name. She wanted him out.

One fateful night, as he slept in their matrimonial bedroom, the wife took matters into her own hands. She invited her two brothers, who pounced on the unsuspecting man, delivering a thorough beating.

Battered and traumatised, the husband reported the assault to a nearby police statio...