Detectives are investigating an incident where a woman allegedly poisoned her son before attempting suicide in Nairobi’s Hazina estate.
The woman is fighting for her life in the hospital after she swallowed a poisonous concoction.
This was after she had also forced her son to swallow the same
chemical. The son aged five died, police said.
According to a police report, the woman, aged 23, used a concoction of beauty
products to kill her son.
She then swallowed the same before the neighbours found her
struggling in the house.
They were
both rushed to a hospital, where the child was pronounced dead on arrival
on Tuesday.
The
mother was transferred to Kenyatta Hospital for specialized treatment, Nairobi
police boss George Sedah said.
The
products used for the murder and suicide attempt were recovered at the scene,
police said.
The
motive of the incident is yet to be known. Police said they are waiting for the
woman to recover before knowing the next steps.
Elsewhere
in Kisasi, Kitui County, the body of a two-year-old boy was found floating in a
well in a homestead after drowning.
The boy
was playing when he drowned in the well on March 31, police and neighbours
said.
The body
was moved to the mortuary pending investigations.
Meanwhile,
three cases of suicide were reported separately in a worrying trend, police
said.
One was reported in Gatunga Market, Tharaka Nithi, where one Pius Gitonga Nyaga was found dead after a suicide incident, police said.
In
Naromoru, Nyeri County, the body of Ruth Wangui Mwangi, 65, was found hanging
from the roof rafter in the store with a sisal rope tied around her neck.
In the Londiani area, the body of Linah Chepkemoi Kilele, 45, was found hanging from a
tree with a nylon rope within his compound.
The body
was moved to the Londiani Sub-County hospital mortuary, awaiting postmortem.
Cases of suicide have been on the rise in the country amid calls for action to address the trend.
Police say the trend has been worrying and
increasing as up to two cases are reported daily.
The World Health Organisation says such cases are attributed to joblessness, death, academic failures or pressures, legal difficulties and financial difficulties.
Other reasons are bullying, previous suicide attempts, history of suicide in a family, alcoholism and substance misuse, depression and bipolar disorder.
