Woman, 43, arrested for allegedly dumping newborn in pit latrine

A 43-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly killing her newborn baby by throwing him into a pit latrine in Kirinyaga.

Ngugu-ini Assistant Chief Weston Njogu said he was tipped by residents from Gachere village who told him that the woman had delivered a baby and thrown him into the 20-foot deep hole.

“I informed the police who arrested her and took her to Baricho Health Centre to get checked,” he told Citizen Digital.

The search for the baby is still underway as police are working with villagers and a team from the county fire brigade.

The woman is currently being held at Baricho Police Station in Ndia.

In a similar incident in July this year, a newborn survived a 6-hour ordeal inside a pit latrine in Karatina.

The good samaritan who jumped into the hole said no one was willing to go in so he did.

“I rushed to the scene and found people milling around; some were demolishing the toilet structure but none was willing to climb down to get the baby who was crying. I decided to take the challenge and save a life; it was stinking but a human life is priceless,” 29-year-old Ephraim Mwatha Mwangi told a reporter from the Daily Nation.