Police in Nakuru have arrested a step father who killed his 6 years old son after separation with wife.
When Norah Kaingoki, the mother, left the house that night, the 6 year old boy James Kamau, chose to stay with his stepfather Zachariah Chege.
Mr Chege allegedly turned on the youngster who had chosen him over his mother, killing him and throwing his lifeless body into a pit latrine near their home in JB estate, Nakuru Town East, a few days later.
The stench of death emanating from the lavatory piqued the interest of a nearby resident. He alerted officials, who were able to recover Kamau’s body. He’d been dismembered and murdered.
Mr Chege was apprehended by the police and sent to court on Wednesday.
Ms Kangoki yesterday recalled the events that led to the death of her firstborn son. She said that her husband, with whom she had the other two children, came home drunk at 9pm on May 26 and found mother and children asleep.
He became violent, blaming her for a myriad of issues he was not clear about. As he assaulted her, the eldest child started screaming and pleading with his father to stop hurting their mother.
The father then turned on the child and beat him too, leaving him with injuries. But as the woman and her two other children escaped from the home, the boy said he would remain with his stepfather.
“I left him there and I was hoping that he would take him to hospital for treatment because if we continued to stay, he would have killed all of us. I tried to stop him from hurting my son. I wish he had just told me to return my son to his father instead of killing him,” she added
She said she sought refuge at a Good Samaritan’s home, where she stayed for two days recuperating. After regaining strength, she travelled to her sister’s home in Gilgil.
“I would call him to inquire how the boy was doing, and he kept assuring me that everything was okay and he was well,” he said.
On Thursday last week, her sister received a call and the person on the line told her that the body of a six-year-old had been retrieved from a pit latrine and that it resembled her nephew.
“I was in denial because when I left, the boy was well, just injured a bit from the beating,” Ms Kangoki said.
Later that day, she was summoned to the Mwariki Police Station and shown photographs of the body. Immediately, she said, she recognised it as that of her son, going by the trousers and shirt he was wearing the day they left him in the house.
Ms Kaingoki was referred to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters to record statements. Her husband was arrested.
She is now awaiting to find out how the boy died after a postmortem exam is conducted before the boy is buried.
