• Teen's mother says she will take care of the baby, appeals to well wishers for help
• Police investigate how she located the pit latrine where she dumped the baby, 4km from where she lives
Image: /THE STAR
The mother of a one-week-old baby girl who was retrieved from a pit latrine in Ol Kalou town on Sunday evening has been arrested.
Eunice Wambui Mwangi, 16, from Ndunyu Njeru in North Kinangop is detained at Ol Kalou police station where she is helping police with the investigations. She was arrested Tuesday evening after she surfaced accompanied by her mother.
Her mother Jane Gathoni, 51, said on Sunda, she visited Wambui who lived at Mwireri in Ol Kalou, where she did manual jobs. She had learned that her daughter was not feeling well. Gathoni said she decided to return home with her to Ndunyu Njeru as her condition was not good.
At home, she interrogated her about the illness and it dawned on her that Wambui had given birth but could not explain the whereabouts of the infant.
On Monday morning, Gathoni heard on the radio the news that a baby girl had been discovered from a pit latrine in Ol Kalou. She made inquiries but did not get clear details. The same news was aired again on Tuesday, still indicating that the baby was at JM Kariuki Memorial hospital.
“I decided to come to Ol Kalou to follow up on this matter. I went to Ol Kalou police station and also to JM Memorial hospital where the baby is kept," she said.
Her daughter confessed the baby is hers, saying she decided to dump it in the pit latrine because she was afraid of her.
Gathoni said she will raise her granddaughter, but appealed to well-wishers to assist her. She said her daughter should have taken the baby to her in the first place as should not lack food even if she cannot afford other necessities.
It is, however, not clear how Wambui located the pit latrine where she dumped the baby, in a residential house about 4km from Mwireri where she lives.
Nyandarua Central subcounty deputy police boss Florence Karimi said Gathoni confirmed to the police that her daughter “confessed to have given birth and thrown her baby in a latrine within Ol Kalou".
Karimi said the teenage mother has been placed in custody as police carry out more investigations to unravel the details of the crime.
Edited by R.Wamochie