Seven year-old boy beats to death his neighbour in Migori

A picture of Tonny Omondi who was allegedly hit and died on the spot outside their house by a seven year old next door neighbor on Sunday evening at Oruba estate in Migori town. [PHOTO: DENISH OCHIENG/ STANDARD]

KENYA: Police in Migori are investigating claims that a seven year-old minor murdered his eight year-old neighbour.

The boy was on Sunday evening beaten to death in the sprawling slums of Oruba in Migori town.

Tonny Omondi, a pupil at St Dorothy Academy, is said to have died on the spot after blows and kicks in the groin by the assailant who is said to be a pupil at St Peters Academy in Migori.

The minor who is the immediate suspect is currently in the custody of the police at Migori police Station.

Migori OCPD Moses Chepyegon confirmed the incident and said they are waiting for postmortem reports from the pathologist to know what exactly caused the death of the minor.

"After knowing the real cause of death it will give us a way to have the preferred charges on him. The definite charges will either be manslaughter or murder" said the police chief.

At the residential home and his school, a sombre mood engulfed relatives and classmates.

His father, George Otieno, termed his dead son as a God fearing boy who joined other family members and they were happy in church on Sunday before he met his death.

"I was informed that my son was dead through a phone call from one of the people with whom we were in church and I couldn't understand how. I rushed to the district hospital and found his body had been taken to the mortuary already, I got finished," said the father.

He explained further how he had gotten a sponsor to take care of his bright son's education in Kisumu where they were to report on Wednesday, "Now all that is gone," said the father.

Boniface Owino, another neighbour who rushed him to the nearby Oruba Nursing Home to try and save his life was crestfallen when nurses at the facility told him the boy had died.

''They then advised us to go to a government facility, on arrival at the County Referral hospital, another death confirmation was done," Owino said.

His mother Beryl Aoko was however too traumatised to speak. She only looked at the albums containing the images of her bright son with sadness.

The father and other relatives who had arrived to mourn said Tonny had not been ailing neither nor had he been diagnosed with any serious illness that would have made him die.

When the Standard team visited the deceased’s former school, teachers were in an impromptu meeting over his death.

The head teacher Paul Okeyo said that the boy's attended school regularly and punctually and adhered to school rules and had good relation with his peers.

The body of the victim is lying at the Migori County Referral hospital morgue.

The family has asked the Government to speed up the investigation and asked for justice to know exactly what caused their son's death.