Man in court for ‘smashing infant son’s head’
The body of the baby was taken to the General Kago Hospital mortuary in Thika as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations took up the case.
A 23-year-old man accused of murdering his four-month-old son by repeatedly smashing his head against a concrete floor is set to appear in a court in Kandara, Murang’a, today.
Gatanga Sub-County Police Commander Peter Muchemi said the Tuesday morning incident occurred in Kihumbu-ini village.
“The preliminary investigative report so far indicates that at around 1:30am the suspect ordered his 23-year-old wife to take him to the toilet that is a few metres from their house. The wife obliged and accompanied him, leaving the baby behind,” he said.
But the man did not look like he needed to go to the toilet as he started quarrelling with his wife on why she was leaving the baby behind.
“All along, it appears that the man had an obsession to hurt the baby and our analysis is that he intended to do it outside the house and in darkness,” Mr Muchemi said.
The couple went back into the house and the man allegedly launched violence against his wife.
“The statement from the wife indicates that he first subdued her with violence…Ensuring the woman was seated on the floor, he grabbed the baby and bit its forehead on the floor. The mother screamed and managed to run out of the house,” Mr Muchemi said.
She then woke up her father-in-law, who lived in a nearby house, and told him what was happening.
“Her screams woke up other neighbours. They flooded the family’s compound and managed to enter the house, where, to their shock, they found the baby’s head smashed, blood and brain spread all over the sitting room,” he said.
The man was seated on a chair and did not resist arrest when police arrived a few minutes later.
“He looked composed. Upon interrogation, he claimed that he suspected the baby was not his,” Mr Muchemi said.
Mr Muchemi added that the suspect had been abusing substances and his parents had recently checked him into a rehabilitation centre.
The body of the baby was taken to the General Kago Hospital mortuary in Thika as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations took up the case.
“We will charge him with murder. It is a sad story to tell and all those who visited the scene are traumatised,” Mr Muchemi said.
Editor's note:An earlier version of this story linked the arrest in Murang'a to a viral video doing rounds on social media. We have since learnt that the two are unrelated. We apologise for the mix up.
