By Antony Gitonga

Police in Naivasha are holding a couple that has declined to take their seven children to hospital leading to the death of one of them.

The other six children are admitted in critical condition to the Naivasha District Hospital after police and officers from the Public Health Department rescued them.

For more than 24 hours, the couple and their children shared their one-roomed house with the body and even had meals as if nothing was amiss before the public informed the police.

In the bizarre incident in Kahuroko village in Maraigushu, the couple from a sect in the area said their faith barred them from seeking medical services.

The Class Six pupil was suffering from measles but the parents declined to take him to hospital, saying that he could be healed through prayers.

Meet his maker
Speaking incoherently, the father of the deceased, James Njuguna said the Bible and their church spoke against going to hospital.

The peasant farmer in his mid 50s told how his son bid them bye, saying that he was on his way to meet his maker.

“Kamau told us t he wanted to meet his maker and that was the last time we heard from him before he died,” said the unperturbed suspect.

He told of how he suffered from cancer some years ago and efforts to seek medication failed, adding that prayers and his faith healed him.

Naivasha District Public Health Officer Samuel King’ori confirmed the arrest adding that three of the six rescued minors had measles.

“The children have never been immunised and have been admitted in critical condition at the district hospital,” he said.

Charge
King’ori added that the couple would be charged with various offences as the minors continued to receive treatment.
When The Standard team visited the home, the police were retrieving the remains of the 13-year-old boy from the mud-walled house.

Neighbours milled in the abandoned compound and confirmed the couple did not attend church and lived as loners.

“When we learnt their children were suffering from measles, we tried to convince them to take them to hospital but they declined,” said a neighbour Lucy Njeri.