DCI wants body of Kajiado infant exhumed as homicide detectives take over death probe

 

Detectives want the body of an infant who died at a Kajiado hospital exhumed as a homicide team takes over investigations into the matter.

Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations now want their homicide colleagues to take over the probe to establish the truth about the controversial death.

The mother claims she was given a dead infant four days after giving birth at the Kajiado hospital.

The police said she claimed that she went to the hospital on December 16, 2023, to deliver but was informed that her child died after birth.

The woman claimed her child cried several times after birth and the doctor who operated on her confirmed the weight of the child before it was taken to the nursery.

In a statement she gave the police, a nurse who assisted the doctor in the caesarian birth told her she gave birth to a child weighing 2kg and the baby had been taken to the childbirth unit at the hospital to gain weight before it could be returned to her.

“She claimed in her report that the said male nurse also demanded Sh500 from her to sort out a personal issue,” the DCI said.

The mother told police that after the male nurse demanded the money several times, three hours later, he went to her and told her to keep her money because “the child had died.”

The DCI said they had questioned the doctor who operated on her and established that the woman had not been formally informed that her child died.

“When the child died, as the doctor said, the woman was not given any audience. The said nurse used that opportunity to defraud his victim,” the DCI said.

Kajiado executive for Health Alex Kilowua on Monday confirmed the woman lost the child after birth.

“We immediately carried out our investigations and established the child died. We also established that the said nurse, whom we have suspended, coerced the patient to give him money,” Kilowua said.

Kilowua said they were still carrying out their investigations on the nurse and that if he is found guilty of the “things patients have said about him” he will be dismissed.

He said the nurse is ready to work with the DCI and provide them with all the necessary information in their investigations.

However, the DCI said the county had taken too long to respond.

When the Star asked Kilowua why police were concerned about the delay of their report regarding the action of the nurse and the hospital's administration, he said he would collaborate with them, without giving specifics.

“That delayed report cannot bar us from carrying out an independent investigation. We need to seek an okay from the courts to exhume the body of the child and involve our homicide investigators in the matter,”  DCI said.

The detectives said DNA will also be carried out to establish if the deceased child belongs to the woman.

The woman told the Star the body of the child that was given to her husband was retrieved from a dirty linen room in the hospital.

“If my child died after birth on Saturday, why was it not taken to the mortuary for preservation?” she asked.

She also claimed that she was informed that her child had a lung problem and she is now demanding to be provided with x-ray photos of the same.

The woman also claimed that a report signed by another doctor on Monday indicated her child was doing well.

But the DCI officers were told the doctor signed the documents without establishing if the child was dead or alive.

“The authorities at the hospital said the doctor went and signed the documents without making verifications,” the investigators said.

The DCI also established that the mother is diabetic but was not provided with specialised treatment as required.  

by KURGAT MARINDANY