Residents of Gacuki village in Embu county were on Saturday, January 28, 2023, left astonished after they spotted a decapitated body of an infant dumped at a nearby farm.
According to Susan Wangari who first saw the body while she was harvesting beans at her farm, the infant was lying in a pool of blood.
“It was very clear that someone chopped off the head of the child, it is inhuman to kill a newborn baby in such a brutal manner,” she told the Nation.
Wangari alerted neighbours who called the police.
Okanda further stated that a search for the baby’s head was being conducted.
“We have commenced investigations into the incident and we are appealing to the villagers to assist us in exposing the killer,” he stated.
“This is a very serious matter and we shall not rest until the culprit is identified and brought to book,”
The residents expressed shock and urged police to respond swiftly on the matter.
Meanwhile, the body of the deceased was moved to the Embu referral hospital mortuary.
The investigators told the media that they suspect ritual killing since the woman’s head had been chopped off and was unavailable.
Police said the murderers gained access to Leah Mwihaki’s house through the roof after they cut the roofing iron sheets using a panga.
The incident was discovered at dawn by one of her neighbours who had gone to check on her. The said neighbour says she found the windowpanes to her house having been broken.
“One of her friends went to visit her in the morning, but Mwihaki had not woken up,” Winfred Wanja, a resident said.
Lari DCI Eunice Maingi said they have started investigations so as to establish the actual cause of the murder and urged residents to help them with information that may lead to the arrest of the suspects.
“We have launched investigations to establish the motive of the murder and who murdered the woman,” Maingi said.
“We are following some leads, but we are urging residents to help us with any information they may have,” she added.
Residents alleged that another old woman was saved by neighbours.
“We heard people in our grandmother’s home. We suspected they wanted to steal her sheep and we came out to check, but we heard them running away,” Bedan Njenga stated.
“We didn’t sleep again. We were shocked to learn about the murder of Mwihaki in the morning,” he added.
Sub-county community policing chairman Njoroge Kamande has condemned the incident.
“We wonder how her neighbours couldn’t her house being broken into. The murderers broke the glasses, and hit several times on the iron sheet before gaining access,” he noted.
Lari Kirenga MCA Josphat Kinyanjui said he will lay a strategy with police, area chief and Nyumba kumi officials so as to beef up security.
Kinyanjui described the incident as a heartless act done to an old poor woman.
A resident Simon Mwangi said in 2015, another incident was witnessed where a woman was attacked by thugs, raped and her head chopped off in the same village.
Area MP Mburu Kahangara sent a message of condolences to the family urging the
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