A husband was arrested in connection to his wife's death in what police suspect to be a botched abortion process in Nairobi's Mathare suburbs.
According to a statement from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) shared on Wednesday, January 4, the man was arrested alongside two quack doctors suspected to have aided in the process.
Police officers bumped into the woman's lifeless body along the busy Outering Road, wrapped in a white bedsheet on new year's eve.
Preliminary investigations, as per the statement, indicated that the woman was murdered elsewhere and her body dumped at the crime scene.
However, subsequent investigations by the directorate indicated that one of the doctors who operates a clinic named Watergate Medical Centre at Mathare Area 1 was hired in the botched attempt.
In consultation with another rogue doctor who runs Busanzi health clinic in Dandora phase 4, the Watergate proprietor had attempted to procure the abortion, albeit with no success.
In the process of their attempt, the woman developed complications prompting them to rush her to another backstreet clinic in Kiambu.
However, the DCI stated that the patient lost her life while in transit to Kiambu, bringing their attempt to a grinding halt.
Gripped by the fear of being discovered, the trio dumped her body in the stormwater tunnel to cover their tracks.
By the time of this publication, the three were held in police custody for processing while awaiting to be charged with the murder of the woman.
Despite pressure from a section of activists in the country to legalize abortion, backstreet abortion is illegal, and culprits stand to attract punishment as per the law.
According to the Kenyan Penal Code, "any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman, whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her or causes her to take any poison or other noxious thing, or uses any force of any kind, or uses any other means whatever, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years."
