Mombasa woman accused of strangling her ailing baby

MOMBASA, KENYA: A magistrate in Mombasa has ordered for a psychiatric test on a woman accused of strangling her ailing four months old daughter to death and dumping the body in a forest.

The test will determine if she can be committed to the High Court for a murder trial.

Police said she tried to conceal murder by reporting she had forgotten the deceased in a taxi she had travelled in but confessed to killing her then led relatives to the spot where she allegedly dumped the corpse

Rukia Mohammed, a married woman from Likoni and a mother of three children has, allegedly, confessed to his husband of six years Iddi Mwinyi, that she strangled their daughter using a scarf.
On Friday Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo, directed that Rukia be taken for a mental check up to determine her state of mind to determine if she is fit to stand trial for murder.

She is accused of causing the death of the infant in Bububu area in Dongo Kundu Mombasa County on January 20 this year.

Rukia was quiet and calm betraying no emotion as she bowed her head in the dock throughout the hearing. She did not raise any objection to the murder charges or ask questions to her husband who testified before the court.