Residents of Kihingo village at Kigetuini in Kiharu were left in utter shock after a middle-aged woman hacked her five weeks old baby to death.
The mother is said to have hacked her son with an axe before dumping his body in a pit latrine.
According to Sarah Wambui, one of the family member, she found the suspect carrying the baby into her hands and she noticed his clothes had blood.
“I asked her what she had done to the baby and she told me not to tell anyone about it,” said Wambui.
She went back to the house and alerted the other members who came out and they followed the trail of blood stains which led them to where she had dumped the baby.
Mary Wanjira, another relative, said during her pregnancy, the mother had said if she gives birth to a girl she would kill her
However, after she gave birth to a boy she said she would keep him even after the neighbors insisted on helping her raise him.
“All along her pregnancy she was insisting that she was not carrying a baby but only had a swelling in the abdomen,” she said.
“We had not anticipated that she would do such a thing and it is really shocking to us,” added Wanjira.
Robert Njenga, a village elder, said the neighbors have been helping the woman who appears to be mentally challenged by feeding her and her other three children.
“This is a troubled family but the act of the mother killing her child is unbelievable,” said Njenga.
The woman was taken to police custody and the baby’s body removed to the mortuary.