• The killing occurred on Monday at West Indies Estate in Eldoret.
• Corporal Ndemo told the court they were yet to record statements from key witnesses.
Image: BY MATHEWS NDANYI
A court in Eldoret has allowed police to detain a woman, 26, accused of stabbing her two children to death for 25 days pending completion of investigations.
Senior principal magistrate Richard Odenyo ordered that the suspect, Christabel Jepkosgei, be locked up at Eldoret Central police station cells after which she will be charged with murder.
“I direct that the suspect be detained until June 19, when she will be brought back in court for mention of her case,” he said.
Jepkosgei is alleged to have stabbed her two-year-old son and daughter, six, using a kitchen knife in her rental house at West Indies estate in Eldoret town.
However, she was presented to court for the killing of son who died on the spot. By the time she was taken to court the death of the daughter had not been recorded.
The killing was allegedly after a domestic quarrel with her husband. The son died on the spot while the daughter died a few hours later at the Moi Referral Hospital.
The woman confessed to killing her children after she was arrested at the house. She attributed the act to stress and depression episodes.
“I did not intend to harm any of my children whom I loved so much but I was forced to kill my son due to stress and depression. Nobody in my family wanted to listen to the problems that I was facing in my marriage,” Jepkosgei said.
She talked about her troubled marriage, saying whenever she approached people for help, nobody wanted to listen to her.
“I'm very sorry for what has happened to my children. I wanted the best for them but I was overwhelmed by anger,” Jepkosgei said.
In an affidavit filed in court by investigating officer Corporal Edward Ndemo, attached to the directorate of criminal investigations department in Turbo, the police sought 25 days to detain the woman to complete investigations.
Corporal Ndemo told the court they were yet to record statements from key witnesses.
“We also need time to take the suspect to hospital for mental assessment to determine whether she is fit to stand murder trial. We also want to take a blood sample from her and the knife she used in the murder for forensic analysis,” Ndemo said.
He informed the court that the slain two-year-old boy was buried on the same day he was killed according to Islamic rites.