A middle-aged woman is being held at Rachuonyo South sub-county's Oyugis police station on suspicion of killing her newborn child and burying her at a farm in Kawiti village.

On Saturday night, Maurine Anyango was arrested after her neighbors grew suspicious when they did not see the one-day-old infant and reported the issue to the local assistant chief, who went immediately to the house and questioned the children, who then confessed what had transpired.

PHOTO | COURTESY Maurine Anyango


According to Kamuma sub-location Assistant Chief Colins Joram, the mother of three gave birth in the the village on Thursday and was assisted in delivering the baby girl by a community health promoter before returning home. Her children saw their mother immerse her last child in cold water on Friday, and when they went home from school later that day, the baby was wrapped in a white towel on the bed.

Later that night, the mother requested her sixth-grade daughter to join her at a farm in the vicinity, where she buried the body in a box.

Shortly after the incident was reported, the suspect took authorities to the place where she buried the infant, and the body was excavated with the help of officers from the Oyugis police station, and the lady was detained.