Autopsy report says dead boy in car was murdered

Benson Barasa points at his late brother Thomas Barasa's house in Luanda village, Kanduyi constituency, on June 12, 2017. His widowed sister-in-law has been arrested following the death of her son in a locked car. PHOTO | TITUS OTEBA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He had severe injuries in the head, stomach and chest that were probably inflicted using a blunt object.
  • Police have since said they are pursuing murder charges and have detained the boy’s mother and her lover.
  • The woman’s mother, Petronilla Naliaka, expressed shock at the turn of events.

The nine-year-old boy found dead in a car at a bar parking yard in Bungoma was most likely bludgeoned to death, going by post-mortem results.

He had severe injuries in the head, stomach and chest that were probably inflicted using a blunt object, a medic privy to the post-mortem told the Nation.

Police have since said they are pursuing murder charges and have detained the boy’s mother and her lover.

The body was found in the man’s car and the boy was initially thought to have suffocated after being left in the locked vehicle for a long time.

But police moved to court on the strength of the post-mortem results and requested to hold the two in custody.

The court granted police an additional five days to complete investigations once they declared they are investigating a capital offence.

The post-mortem was conducted at the Bungoma County Referral Hospital on Monday.

Family spokesperson Benson Barasa corroborated the new twist.

“It was not a case of suffocation as they want us to believe, our son was murdered,” he said.

NEW TWIST

The lovers had initially claimed they left the boy alone in the locked vehicle and found him motionless when they went to check on him later.

The two had booked a room at the bar where they spent time before the body was discovered. 

The bar manager, Boniface Wafula, said the man booked the room at 9 am on Sunday.

He arrived there driving a blue saloon car.

The woman checked in an hour later.

“The man walked out of room Number 4 to meet the woman at the car park. They talked briefly, then the lady came out of the vehicle, took soda, and returned to the car. Immediately she followed him to the room,” said Mr Wafula.

He added that all along, they were not aware there was a child in the car.

MOB JUSTICE

On two occasions, the woman left the room, picked a soda and took it to the car.

But when she delivered the third soda to the car, she wailed as she opened the door, Mr Wafula said.

“She then pulled the shirtless body of a  boy dressed in shorts from the car ... I rushed there with water to resuscitate the boy but he seemed to have been dead for some time,” he said.

The barman then rushed to report the matter at Mateka police post. A crowd that had gathered was threatening to beat up the woman. 

“I decided to take a motorbike and report the matter at Bumula police station and officers rushed to the scene and saved the couple from being lynched,” added Mr Wafula.

He charges Sh400 for a room at the bar.

Bumula police boss Julius Muthini said his officers had filed a miscellaneous application and are on the ground to complete investigations. 

MISSED SCHOOL

The boy’s father, Thomas Simiyu Barasa, died in 2015.

Enos was a nursery class pupil at Matumbufu Primary School in Kanduyi Sub-County. “The boy should have been in class four because he was 9 years old but due to poverty he used to miss classes often,” said Mr Barasa, the family spokesman.

His mother, Christine Simiyu, has five other children. The dead boy was the last-born.

“After the death of her husband, who was our eldest brother, nobody wanted to inherit her because of Bukusu customs,” Mr Barasa said.

The woman left her late husband’s home on Thursday last week to attend a burial at her mother’s home in Mabusi village, Bumula.