A man was Monday arrested after he allegedly killed his wife and four children in a village in Kirinyaga County in a bizarre incident.
The man identified as Paul Murage Njuki, 35, is said to have also defiled one of his deceased daughters before killing her.
He surrendered to the local police Monday before he led detectives to the location he had dumped a killer weapon and his house where the bodies were.
The children are aged between 13 and one.
Police say the assailant used a blunt object and a panga to commit the offence.
Police say the man killed his two sons and two daughters before dumping the killer weapon in a thicket near a river in Kathata village.
The bodies were found on the victims' beds.
The bodies were retrieved from the scene and police say they are yet to establish the motive.
The victims were identified as Millicent Muthoni Rungu, 38, Nelly Wawira 13, Gifton Bundi Muthoni 13, Sheromit Wambui Muthoni 5, and Clifton Njuki Murage aged one.
One murder weapon and a slasher were recovered from the scene.
The suspect told police he threw an axe he used in a thicket in the area and a search for the same was ongoing.
The police vehicle carrying the bodies was stuck in the mud for hours because of the poor state of the road and heavy rains experienced.
"HORRIFYING SCENE"
The victims had head injuries and one of the male children had burns in the leg indicating he burnt him.
A witness described the scene as horrifying.
A team of detectives was Tuesday sent to the area to back those on the ground in the probe.
Locals told police the man had looked isolated and disturbed in the past days.
It is not clear if he had a quarrel with the family and what had triggered the same.
Homicide incidents have been on the rise in a shocking trend in the country.
Some of them remain unsolved so far.
There were 1,781 cases of murder in 2020 compared to 1,527 in 2019, 2,333 in 2018 and 1,435 in 2017.
Homicide incidents increased by 4.7 per cent from 2,971 recorded in 2019 to 3,111 in 2020.
There were 2,856 cases of homicide in 2018, 2,774 in 2017 and 2,751 in 2016.
Edited by D Tarus
