Tears as three children killed by step mum are buried

Caskets bearing the remains of three children who were allegedly killed by a woman who later committed suicide in Masara village in Vihiga County over domestic wrangles. The three were buried on March 24th 2018. (Collins Oduor, Standard)

There was a sombre mood as three children hacked to death by their step-mother two weeks ago were buried in Obede village, Vihiga County.

Tears flowed freely as bodies of Persilah Awour (7), Joseph Ogonda (4) and Geoffrey Ouma (1) were laid to rest. The body of their step-mother -Jacinta Adhiambo - who killed herself after committing the heinous act, was missing from the homestead because she had been ostracised.

The children’s father Festus Odhimabo rejected the body of his second wife Jacinta Adhiambo who had attempted suicide thrice before finally killing her co-wife’s three children.

The woman hanged herself in the house after slashing the children to death with a panga.

Mr Odhiambo sat among the mourners lost in grief. His uncle, Father Evans Dolla said the family and clan made a decision to disown the body of the killer, still at Jaramogi Teaching and Referral hospital morgue.
“As a family we cannot allow someone who committed such crime to be buried here,” said Dolla.

They want the body handed over to her family who hail from Kendu Bay in Homa Bay County.

He said the altercations that led to the ugly incidence started immediately after they moved home from Nairobi a month ago.

Villagers told Sunday Standard that the woman had attempted suicide twice by taking poison and had just been discharged from hospital the day she killed her co-wife’s children.

The children’s  mother had gone to church.

In an earlier interview, Odhiambo blamed his in-laws for duping him into marrying their ‘evil’ daughter. He married Jacinta in December 2016 as his second wife, six years after marrying Hellen.

He however lived with Jacinta in Nairobi while the first wife was based in the rural home. He said five days after Jacinta accepted his marriage proposal, he went to her parent’s home in Kendu Bay to inform them of his plans.

“When I inquired more about the girl, they told me she was good,” said Odhiambo.

Relatives say trouble in the marriage started in December last year, when Jacinta conceived. From then on, there was no peace.