Woman held after she admits to killing her child

By FRED KIBOR and PETER OCHIENG

Elgeyo/Marakwet, KENYA: A 20-year-old woman is being held at Iten Police Station in Keiyo District, Elgeyo/Marakwet County, after she allegedly strangled her nine-month-old child and hid the body in a cave.

The woman travelled to the neighbouring Uasin Gishu County and reported to Eldoret Police Station that she had been abducted and raped.

She told police that her child had been strangled by the abductors who later threw the body of the infant down the Keiyo escarpment.

Police from Eldoret informed their counterparts in Iten of the incident. They came and took the woman to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for a medical examination.

But doctors at the hospital ruled out rape following a medical examination and recommended that the woman be further probed on what really happened.

Keiyo police boss Joseph Ireri said investigations carried out indicated that the woman was seen carrying the child the previous day at Iten before she reported the incident in Eldoret.

“We have reports that the woman has been engaged in constant quarrelling with her husband and had previously attempted to kill the child when she was about three months old,” said the OCPD.

Police in Eldoret also expressed doubt about the woman’s testimony, wondering why she preferred to report the matter in Eldoret rather than Iten where the incident allegedly took place. Ireri said after further interrogation, the woman admitted to having strangled her child.

A joint team of Iten and Eldoret police officers led by Uasin Gishu CID Commandant Isaac Musyoki took the woman back home and she led them to where the body of the child was, he said.

“We visited the crime scene in Iten and discovered the body of the child hidden in a cave with a shoe lace around the neck,” said Musyoki.

Domestic squabbles

In her defence, the woman said she was tired of taking care of her child after unrelenting squabbles with her husband.

The OCPD, however, said a mental check-up would be conducted on the woman before she was arraigned in court to answer to murder charges.

The woman’s neighbour, Mathias Kigen, said she had previously attempted to kill her first-born child who has since been taken into the custody of the grandparents.

“She has a history of child neglect and this is her second attempt; she tried to kill her second-born at three months,” said Mr Kigen.

In Iten, her husband had also reported to the Kipkagus location chief, Josephat Korir, that his wife had left home with the child and failed to return. According to Korir, the husband said he had called his wife several times on her mobile phone but she did not answer his calls, causing him anxiety.

Police officers moved the body of the child to the Iten District Hospital mortuary for a postmortem.