Minor burns beyond recognition after mother locks her in house

BY KEVINE OMOLLO

KISUMU, KENYA: A three-year old girl was burnt beyond recognition after her mother locked her up in a house on Monday evening.

The incident which occurred at Sidho Village in Muhoroni, Kisumu County has left villagers mesmerised with some terming it suicidal act.

“How could she lock the child in the house and leave cooking fire in the same house? I think this should be investigated,” said a witness.

The child’s mother Carolyn Ochieng said she had gone to fetch water from a nearby river and left the girl sleeping in the bedroom.

“I had left water boiling in a different room but the fire was almost getting off. We always boil drinking water so it was normal,” said Ochieng.

The fire is suspected to have spread into the nearby clothes burning the four-roomed house. Nothing was salvaged.

A neighbor who had seen the blaze raised an alarm as the flame took over the house. The neighbors who responded to the incident could not manage the huge flame which had engulfed the whole house.

Two other children who were playing within the compound were rescued by the neighbors as they wandered within the compound in confusion as the fire rattled iron sheet-roofed house.

Dalmas Olweny, the child’s father said the house always remains locked for security purposes and they would not have suspected that such an incident would occur.

“We operate a small kiosk within the house and we always lock the door every time my wife and I are away for the security of the kiosk and the fire was not planned,” he said.

Police officers who responded to the call however retrieved the body but did not take it to the mortuary for postmortem and further investigations.

Muhoroni OCPD Muthuri Mwongera said police were investigating the matter to take appropriate action against those found culpable to the incident.

“That is a case that must be investigated and if attributed to negligence or deliberate act then one must be charged of murder,” he said.

Mwongera who dismissed claims that the police had failed to ferry the body to the mortuary insisted that a junior officer had briefed him of the same.

On Tuesday morning, the bereaved family was preparing a grave to burry ‘their daughter’ who was lying on a table inside a tent which had become their new house.

The victims however said they had not made statements with the police.