Woman arrested for strangling and dumping baby at Met staff quarters in Nairobi

A woman was at the weekend arrested for allegedly strangling her baby and dumping his body at a dumpsite within the Kenya Meteorological Department staff quarters, Nairobi.

Ms Mercy Chepngeno (pictured), 22, was arrested on Saturday at her rural home in Kuresoi, Nakuru County after being linked to the murder of the four months old baby.

Police had been investigating the incident after the body of the boy was found.

"She confessed to strangling the child and dumping the body at the staff quarters’ dumpsite, where she had worked as a househelp for a few days,” police said.

Police who attended the scene where the body was discovered on October 24 said the boy seemed to have been tortured by the killer.

The boy seems to have been strangled and hit with an object in the head.

Kilimani police boss Michael Muchiri said the woman would be charged with the offence of infanticide contrary to section 210 of the Penal code.

She had come to the compound as a househelp to one of the tenants few days earlier. She arrived with a paper bag which contained the remains of the child.

Police said they found a clinic card with details of the child inside the bag.  And after police made an appeal for information on the whereabouts of the parents of the infant, informers gave leads that led to her arrest.

“The public came out to help in unraveling the issue and our case is now set. The woman saw the child as a baggage to her and she wanted a job but what she did was criminal,” said Muchiri.

She is believed to have escaped from the compound soon after she realized police were investigating the incident.

Before her arrest, police had planned to conduct a DNA analysis on the tenants of the compound as part of the efforts to identify the parents of the child.

There are about 200 people who live within the compound, which means it will take long for the DNA process to be complete.

They did not know she was not there by then.