Mother beats child to death over Sh20

Police are holding a mother of five who admitted beating her nine-year-old daughter to death over Sh20.

Ms Janet Sakwe, 37, said she got furious because her daughter Esther refused to divulge the source of the money.

She was speaking on Tuesday at Patanisho Nursing Home, a clinic in Kayole, Nairobi, where the child was pronounced dead.

Ms Sakwe had rushed her there on realising the girl was motionless after the punishment.

A medic, Mr Lennox Odhiambo, said the child died before she arrived at the clinic.

“She had a broken tooth and the lips were ruptured. There were injuries to her ankles, wrists and back,” he said.

REGRET

Ms Sakwe expressed regret at the killing.

“I was beating her to instil discipline but she fell hard on the floor. She then threw up and I gave her water. I rushed her to hospital when I noticed she was not moving,” she said.

She said she used her flip-flops and bare hands to beat the girl.

Ms Sakwe lay flat on the dusty floor at the clinic and occasionally rolled and wailed uncontrollably as she narrated the ordeal.

All this time, the body of Esther was on a stretcher as police officers took pictures of the scene and statements from the health staff.

Outside the hospital, a crowd was baying for Ms Sakwe’s blood.

Police cocked their guns and threatened to shoot as they escorted the woman to a waiting car that took her to the police station.

FIFTH BORN

Esther was Ms Sakwe’s fifth-born child and her only daughter.

“I am a single mother. God should have taken my life instead. Now I am a killer and will be in jail for the rest of my life,” she said while sobbing.

Esther’s body was in her school uniform when police took it to the City Funeral Home.

Ms Sakwe said the girl had not been going to school because she could not afford her fees.

“I had made a decision to leave Nairobi and return to Kaimosi with my children. I had even packed my belongings,” she added.