Woman kills son, leaves body at dumpsite in Nakuru

Police have arrested a 22-year-old woman who allegedly killed her one-year-old son and dumped his body at a dumpsite in Kuresoi, Nakuru County.

Mercy Chepngeno reportedly strangled the baby boy on Saturday before stuffing his body in a plastic bag and disposing it off at the meteorological department staff quarters dumpsite in Kuresoi.

According to police, the woman confessed to commiting the act.

“She confessed to strangling the child and dumping the body at the Staff Quarters’ dumpsite where she’d worked as a house help for a few days,” said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in a statement issued on Sunday.

The woman is set to be arraigned in court to face charges of infanticide after police complete investigations.

“The suspect will be arraigned in court after necessary police action and be charged with the offence of infanticide contrary to section 210 of the Penal code,” said the DCI.

The law defines infanticide as the offence where “a woman by any wilful act or omission causes the death of her child being a child under the age of twelve months, but at the time of the act or omission the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child.”

The offence is dealt with and punished as if she had been guilty of manslaughter of the child.