Man poisons his three children in domestic row

Kakamega: A boda boda operator has poisoned his three children following a quarrel with his wife in Siyenga, Likuyani.

The man, who also took the poison, and his children, are admitted to Likuyani Sub-County Hospital.

Area Assistant Chief Diana Otenda said Felix Atira forced his two sons and a daughter aged between seven and nine years to drink a glass of acaricide, a chemical meant to kill mites or ticks.

"They have been fighting every time they differ on anything and the animosity forced the wife to flee leaving behind the children," she said.

Mr Atira's 12-year-old daughter narrated how her father compelled them to drink "a blue liquid" and threatened to throw them in a well if they defied him.

"He prayed first and asked us to consume the stuff all at once saying it was a concoction of herbal medicines," she told journalists from her hospital bed yesterday.

She said Atira had arrived home at around 10pm.

"He called our mother and had a heated conversation before he assembled us, prayed and gave us the poison," the girl said.

They started experiencing nausea, stomachache, vomiting and diarrhoea. The girl called her mother from Atira's mobile phone and then crawled to a neighbour's house to ask for help. All along, her siblings were writhing in pain.

Atira told journalists at the hospital that his in-laws had threatened to kill him because of beating his wife.

"I wanted to die with my children so that they would not suffer alone long after I have gone," he said.

Atira said he do not regret the act because all he did was in good interest of the children and himself.

His estranged wife Mabel Kavuwengesi who visited them at the hospital yesterday accused her husband of attempting to kill her on several occasions. "He attempted to run over me with his motorcycle, threatened to attack me with a panga on many occasions and almost set our house on fire with all of us inside only to be rescued by pastors who were from church," she claimed.

She said Atira accused her of stopping him from marrying a second wife. She said when the suffering became unbearable, she fled to her brother's home. Ms Kavuwengesi vowed not to return to her matrimonial home and asked the Government to guarantee her children security.