Woman who buried ‘fake babies’ did not give birth

The coffins in which toys were buried instead of new born babies at Kamsama Village in Suba North constituency. [James Omoro/Standard]

A woman who buried a pair of toys claiming they were her newly born twins could be in for more trouble after it was confirmed she never gave birth.

Yesterday, the police said they had confirmed from medical tests that the woman was never pregnant.

Police said they were interrogating the woman and her husband, a carpenter, to establish why they faked birth of twins. The couple was snatched from the jaws of death after residents of Kamsama village in Suba North, Homa Bay, attacked them when they learnt of the burial.

The woman’s husband insisted she was pregnant even after tests showed she had not had a baby in one year.

“Her husband says his wife had been attending clinics because she was pregnant with his twins,” said a police officer who sought anonymity.

Yesterday, the police took her for a test at a health facility at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Mbita town in Suba North Constituency.

Sources told The Standard the woman was telling them the medical results would confirm she had delivered.

County police boss Esther Seroney said the medical examination contradicted the woman. “We could not tell if the woman was telling the truth, we decided to subject her to the medical test. Medics have conducted the test and concluded she did not give birth in the recent past”.

Police boss

She added: “We are still investigating the woman and her husband before we decide whether they will be charged or not,” said Ms Seroney.

The couple was rescued by police from villagers who wanted to lynch them on Tuesday for “burying toys”.

The toys were discovered after suspicious family members decided to exhume the “bodies”. The caskets had been buried in separate graves.

They found the toys wrapped in white sheets. The relatives decided to dig out the graves after the couple denied them a chance to view the “corpses” before burying them.

The mother of one said she first sought maternity services at Homa Bay County hospital but was referred to several other hospitals in Kisumu and Nairobi and later developed complications.

Homa Bay hospital CEO Lilian Kochola, however, dismissed the woman’s allegations, saying she was never admitted to the facility. “We don’t have her name in our records,” Dr Kochola said.