A 42-year-old woman who allegedly killed her son by striking him on the forehead with a stool on Tuesday, 26, evening has been arrested in Meru County.
The woman from Mweonkanga Village, Tigania West, was quarreling with her husband regarding the paternity of the child.
The grade one pupil was found lifeless with blood oozing from his nose and mouth by neighbors who responded to screams coming from the home.
The woman then fled the scene and tried to commit suicide before an angry mob caught up and assaulted her.
The dispute between the two parents started when the woman fled her home and later returned a year later with a child whom the husband disowned.
“Villagers talked to the man and he agreed to accept them and they started living together again. I have intervened on various occasions after they came to me. The child has been at the centre of the conflict with the man claiming that he is not the biological father, an allegation that has never been verified,” said Mweonkanga Assistant Chief Samuel Igweta.
The woman is said to have occasionally left the child unattended for days with her whereabouts unknown.
The chief also claimed the woman usually fled with the child making the husband further accuse her of extra-marital affairs.
A neighbour, Moses Murithi, said the husband had made threats to the woman’s life a week earlier.
“The woman looks like she is mentally disturbed and at times comes to seek shelter in my home after being beaten by her husband who has been saying that the child is not his,” said Murithi.
