Body of infant allegedly killed by mother in Kirinyaga retrieved from pit latrine

By , K24 Digital
On Tue, 13 Jul, 2021 09:52 | 2 mins read
Body of infant retrieved from a pit latrine. PHOTO: Courtesy

The body of an infant that had disappeared mysteriously on July 5, in Gîchûgû Constituency has been found and retrieved from a pit latrine belonging to ACK Kîandaî Church, Kirinyaga County.

Confirming the incident, Kirinyaga East Subcounty Police Commander Antony Mbogo said that it took the Kirinyaga county Fire Brigade more than five hours to retrieve the body from the 60 feet deep pit.

The remains of the infant are now lying at the Kerugoya Level 4 hospital mortuary.

The mother of the infant, who is suspected to have killed it and dumped it into the pit latrine, has been arrested and is set to be arraigned at the Gîchûgû law courts on Tuesday.

"We requested the court for a one week period to conduct investigations on the matter. We completed the investigations but we still needed to retrieve the infant's body first before taking her to court, " he said adding that it is the suspect who eventually revealed where she had dumped her baby.

The police have also launched a manhunt for an accomplice in the heinous act, who is believed to be closely related to the suspect.

Jenifer Wanjiru, reportedly dumped her newborn baby at the Church's compound earlier this month after delivering.

She had sneaked out of Kiranyaga Subcounty Hospital with the baby and boarded a motorcycle to Kîandaî Village where she had been residing.

When areas residents learnt about the missing infant, they confronted her but she reportedly lied about the child in a bid to cover up the crime.

"She first said that she has killed and drowned the baby. We searched all over but we didn't find anything," a resident said

The Police boss also said that she had applied the same tactic for a cover-up.

"As we interrogated her, she said that she had sold the baby to a certain woman in Juja, Kiambu County. We travelled there and after our investigations, we found out that she had lied to us," Mbogo said