Residents of Kanjathara Kutus in Kirinyaga County are reeling in grief after the body of a 2-year-old boy was discovered floating in the water at a nearby stream.
The body was found three days after the boy disappeared mysteriously from his home in Mjini area within Kutus town.
His mother Caroline Wanjiru says his little boy disappeared soon after taking lunch on Sunday, August 29.
“I thought that he had gone to play but he never returned home again,” she said.
The incident has been confirmed by Mwea East Subcounty Police Commander Daniel Kitavi who said that the body has since been moved to Kibugi Mortuary awaiting postmortem.
“Once the postmortem has been completed, we will be able to know the circumstances under which the boy died. Whether it’s drowning or there are other hands at play, it will be known after the process,” he noted.
The police boss also noted that the child’s father had filed a report with the police concerning the sudden disappearance of his kid.
“The father had reported to the police on the same issue but the body was seen by students this morning.”
The locals however suspect that the boy was murdered elsewhere by unknown people and the body dumped at the stream at night.
They argue that they had combed the stream and various villages effortlessly for the past two days, but their search did not bear any fruits.
“We searched this whole area yesterday but we did not find a sign of the boy alive or dead,” he said.
Another resident, Antony Maina wonders how the body was found at a bridge near a road, yet it did not appear there the day before.
“There are people who come to fetch water here every day. How come that they did not find it here yesterday?” he posed.
The residents are now calling for a speedy investigation by security personnel in order to unravel the circumstances in which the two and a half years old boy died.
“The police should investigate this matter and find the culprits who might have committed this crime so that they can face the law,” Maina stated.
