Couple confesses to killing newborn ‘for lack of food’

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A couple is being held by police for killing their newborn baby girl at their house.

The 32-year-old woman and her husband, 36, were arrested on suspicion of strangling the infant hours after she was born on February 7, 2020, Bahati Sub-county police commander Francis Mwangi said.

According to the police, the baby was killed six hours after she was born in their house at Umoja Estate in Lanet, Bahati Sub-county.

“Our investigations have established that the baby was born at around 11 pm. She was killed at 4 am,” the officer said.

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Mr Mwangi said the woman’s mother, who was eagerly waiting for the birth of her granddaughter, raised alarm on February 18 when she realised her daughter had delivered, but the baby was nowhere to be seen.

“The woman suspected that her daughter had either given birth or terminated the pregnancy. She wasn’t sure, but she requested us to investigate,” the officer said.

After the report was made at Lanet Police Station, officers raided the single-roomed house where the couple lives and were shocked when the duo confessed to the murder.

Manual work

“They told detectives that they killed the baby because they are jobless and had nothing to feed her,” said the officer.

The couple has three other children aged between 10 and three.

Neighbours said the two are peasants who do manual work in the estate to feed their children.

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During interrogation, the couple claimed that they could not even afford rent for the single room they were living in.

Preliminary investigations reveal that the couple dumped the dead baby in a latrine. The body was retrieved on Tuesday and taken to the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital.

The two will be arraigned to face murder charges.