Kisii couple kills baby born out of illicit love affair

Locals at the scene where a body of a three-month-old baby was found at Riana, Kisii county, on 7/6/2019. [Sammy Omingo]

Police in Thika are investigating a couple suspected of killing their three-month-old month baby and dumping the body in a pit latrine.

The man and his wife are said to have travelled from Nairobi to their home in Riana village, Bonchari sub-county, Kisii on Wednesday, carrying the baby.

They returned to the City the following day without the infant.

Suspicious neighbours immediately raised the alarm and alerted the police, leading to intensive investigation involving detectives in Nairobi and Kisii.

On Monday, the baby's body was found wrapped in a used cement bag and placed inside a 5-foot latrine pit.

Sources indicated that the couple plotted to kill the baby after the man realised he was not its father.

According to the villagers, the woman had been in an extra-marital affair with another man in the village while her husband was away in Nairobi working for a private security firm.

The woman is said to have moved to Nairobi together with her other four children two months into the pregnancy.

Sources told The Standard the plot to kill the baby was hatched after the woman admitted that it was not her husband's. 

According to the man's mother, the couple arrived at around 8pm on Wednesday and left the following morning. She was surprised when on Monday security officers entered her son's compound in search of the missing baby.

“I never knew that my daughter in-law was expectant. They did not tell me about any new born baby,” she said.

Unknown to her, police in Kisii had been in touch with their counterparts in Thika as soon as they were alerted about the missing baby and a search was already on.

The breakthrough came on Monday when the woman is said to have confessed about the killing and said where the baby's body was dumped.

Police in Nairobi then relayed the information to their counterparts in Kisii, who, together with local administrators, traced the body.