The family live in the western city of Kisumu - an opposition stronghold where riots broke out in August 2017 amid anger about the results of an election that was eventually re-run because of irregularities.

She has said she aims to open 11 courts around the country specialising in sexual and gender-based crimes – with two of them already set up in the western Kisumu and Siaya counties.

The group had travelled to the Kenyan city of Kisumu for a training course, according to their lawyers, but were deported to Uganda without proper legal channels like deportation orders or extradition requests being followed.

Chaotic scenes were also witnessed in other parts of the country, including in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyeri.

The rescue centre is in a remote location on the outskirts of the city of Kisumu, which made verifying its existence difficult.