7-year-old boy killed, private parts removed

Nanyuki, Kenya: Mystery surrounds the murder of a seven-year-old boy whose body was retrieved from Nanyuki River last week, after a post-mortem report revealed that his private parts were missing.

The discovery has fuelled speculation of ritualistic killing and police in Laikipia County have asked residents with information on the boy's murder to volunteer it to them.

Laikipia East OCPD Kegode Kidiavai said the post-mortem conducted by government pathologists showed that some sexual organs were missing, and that the boy died as a result of trauma caused by a blunt object on the left side of the head, which crushed the skull.

"The child appears to have been hit on the left side of the head with a blunt object, while his scrotum was missing," Kidiavai said.

The boy is said to have disappeared on August 7 and Kidiavai said the post-mortem report indicated that he could have been murdered two days later. No arrests have been made but investigations are ongoing.