Grandmother who smashed 10-day infant on the floor in court

A 51- year- old woman alleged to have smashed his 10 days old granddaughter three times on the floor of a county referral hospital ward where the mother was recuperating was on Monday arraigned before Kabarnet Law Court.

Cheparsip Kunia is said to have been agitated after her daughter who gave birth at Baringo Referral Hospital (BCRH) facility was forced to stay for more days due to birth complications.

The court was told that the mother of the infant had lost a lot of blood while giving birth but Kunia who was her guardian and biological mother was not ready to spend more days waiting for her to recuperate after giving birth.

It is then that she became angry and killed the infant by smashing her three times on the floor during the morning of New Year before being arrested and booked at Kabarnet police station at 6:45am.

James Muchiri, an officer from Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), presented a miscellaneous application before Resident Magistrate Vienna Amboko seeking to hold the accused for 14 days to enable them complete their investigations.

“I’m investigating a case where the suspect who is the grandmother of the deceased is believed to have murdered one Chepkosip Ling’ ari, an infant at BCRH,” read the application.

Amboko while making her ruling granted detectives 14 days to detain the accused at Kabarnet police station to allow completion of investigation and carry out an autopsy of the infant to establish the exact cause of death

The resident magistrate also ordered the accused who looked unperturbed with her action to be escorted by Kabarnet police to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Eldoret, where a mental assessment shall be conducted.

The case will come up for mention on January 17 where she is expected to take a plea.