By Kenan Miruka
A primary school pupil in Gucha district is fighting for her life in hospital after her drunken cousins viciously attacked and chopped off her hand in a row over food.
The 13 year old girl was accosted by her three teenage cousins as she slept with her siblings at Bomosambi village, Boochi Chache location in the 11 pm incident.
Trouble started when the three suspects, cousins to the victim, arrived home late and demanded to be served food by their mother. She obliged and served them what remained after the family’s supper.
A quarrel ensued with the suspects armed with pangas and other crude weapons demanding more from their mother and sensing danger she ducked and hid in a maize farm.
Area chief Robert Isoe said the suspects chased after their mother in the dark and thinking she had sought refuge in their uncle’s adjacent house.
They gained entry by breaking the bedroom door to Bitengo Orwoba’s house. She fled leaving behind her three daughters sleeping in a separate room.
In the ensuing melee, the suspects attacked the children demanding that they keep quiet seriously injuring the victim. She sustained deep cuts on the head while her left hand was chopped off before neighbours intervened.
She was rushed to St. Camillus Tabaka Mission Hospital where she underwent an operation. The hospital’s director Fr Raphael Wanjau said the victim had her hand amputated as doctors made frantic efforts to save her life.
Gucha OCPD Richard Ng’etich said two of the suspects had been arrested and were being detained at Ogembo police station while the third was still at large.
