Police in Kakamega are holding a man who is suspected to have killed his 15-year-old son over the loss of Sh500.
Kakamega Central police chief David Kabena said they have arrested the man identified as John Asango Khatera over the boy’s death.
“We are treating the case as a death incidence because we cannot establish whether he killed or not,” said Mr Kabena.
Mr Kabena said police are conducting investigations to establish how the class eight pupil at Mahiakalo primary school died when he was with his father in their house.
Family members have called for a postmortem to establish the cause of the boy’s death, claiming he was slapped by his father and his head hit on the wall before he fell down unconscious.
ENRAGED
The boy’s step mother Naomi Inyanje said her husband became enraged when he found the Sh500 missing from his bedroom and summoned the boy who was suspected to have stolen the money.
“He had sent me to take the money from the bedroom to go and buy breakfast for the people who were working in the farm. When I told him that the money was missing, he became furious and summoned the boy. I left them in the house and went to the shop to buy breakfast on credit,” said Ms Inyanje said at her home in Lianungo village, Bukhungu sub-location in Kakamega Municipality.
Ms Inyanje said she found the husband beating the boy and she intervened pleading with the man to forgive him.
“I went into the house and found the boy lying unconscious. My husband accepted that he slapped the son who staggered and knocked his head on the wall,” she said.
The boy was rushed to Kakamega Teaching and Referral Hospital by the father but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Ms Inyanje said her husband came back and informed the family about the death of their son and went to report to the police.
‘NORMAL DISCIPLINE’
“He was so confused because he thought it was normal discipline he was administering to the boy but things turned nasty,” she said.
The boy’s aunt Nancy Imbayi asked police to move with speed to establish what killed the teenager before the family starts organising for his burial.
“We want to know whether he was suffering from any illness or he was killed by his father because they were only two in the house at the time of his death,” said Ms Imbayi.