Questions over death of child in police cells over Sh465 debt row

Businesswoman Zipporah Mutheu. She says her child died inside Kambu police cells. [Stephen Nzioka, Standard]

An altercation between two women over a Sh465 debt has been linked to the death of a child aged one-and-a-half years old in Kambu Township, Makueni County.

Zipporah Mutheu, the child's mother and a small-scale business lady in Kambu township, said she had lent goods to a customer two months ago but the customer defaulted on the payment.

"I had given her Sh1,000 in cash, then other goods worth Sh465. She paid the Sh1,000 but the rest of the money she refused to pay," she said.

"When my shop ran out of milk stock, I went to her to ask for the balance, but instead of paying, she called police to arrest me," she said.

The mother of two told The Sunday Standard that on Wednesday while in her shop, a police officer on a motorbike approached and allegedly assaulted her. She suspects the child she was carrying was hit during the confrontation.

"I wasn't even given time to close the door of my shop, the officer hurriedly took us to the police station and bungled us into a holding cell hitting the ground," said Mutheu.

"By the time of the arrest, my baby was under medication. He had been treated at a health facility in Mtito Andei and we were told to take him to Makindu sub-county hospital for further check-up," she added.

Mutheu says that night while in the cell, she pleaded with the officers on duty to allow her to take the child to hospital but they refused.

"By around 4am on Thursday, five women came to pick the baby but the officer dismissed them, informing them that being a suspect under police custody I had no right to be accessed by outsiders until I am taken to court," Mutheu said.

An hour later, she said the child started vomiting, and he stopped breathing.

"I kicked the cell door several times but no one opened until the baby breathed his last," she said.

The mother says she stayed with the body until 7.30am Thursday. To make matters worse, she was instructed to carry her dead son to Kambu sub-county hospital morgue.

"The officer who arrested me on Wednesday is the same person who ordered me to carry my child's body to the morgue. He refused to indicate the death of the child in the station's Occurrence Book," she stated.

At the hospital, a medic said it was impossible to receive the body without an OB number. It took the intervention of OCS Mtito-Andei station for an OB number to be recorded.

The area Assistant County Commissioner, Ahmed Hussein, has since tasked various investigating authorities to probe the incident.