Miracle baby survives 15 hours in 20-foot latrine
A woman in Murang'a will be charged with dumping her baby in a pit latrine.
A one-day-old baby girl retrieved alive on Wednesday from a 20-foot deep pit latrine 15 hours where her mother dumped her has been ruled healthy.
The "baby is now out of danger and can be discharged", said a report from Thika Level Five Hospital to the Gatanga sub-county police.
The child’s mother will be charged with attempted murder and failing to declare the birth, said Gatanga police boss Laurence Njeru.
The incident occurred in Kimandi Wanyaga village, with Mr Njeru saying the incident was an "affront to the right to live, where a mother dumped a live baby in an abandoned toilet with the hope that it will die".
The hospital named the baby "Angel". The mother’s name was recorded as Rachel Koche Makomu.
Mr Njeru said police had received a report on Monday evening that “a 29-year-old woman who had earlier been known to be pregnant had all of a sudden appeared to have given birth but there was no baby to show".
The woman is an employee of a tea farm. Her co-workers had noticed that she was no longer pregnant but she had no baby to show and she could not explain her condition.
The area assistant chief reported the matter to the Ndaka-ini Police Station on Monday morning.
The chief told officers that he suspected the woman had concealed a birth.
The police started investigating the case.
"The station commander [and] several of his officers visited the woman's home and after interrogating her, she confessed that she had given birth the previous day and dumped [the baby] in a pit latrine," Mr Njeru said.
The officers mobilised villagers to search for the baby "and thank God of graciousness that the baby was retrieved alive after it had spent more than 15 hours in the filth".
Mr Njeru said it was a miracle that the child was still alive and eagerly suckled as if nothing had happened to it. He explained that the pit latrine was not used regularly as it serves tea pickers and for the time the baby was "down there, no one had used it".
"We are happy and acknowledge the miracle. We escorted the mother and her baby to Thika Level Five Hospital, where medics have been monitoring the health of the baby, and so far, so good because she has been ruled fit to live," he said.
