A couple in Bomet went on a drinking spree in the neighbourhood and returned home separately on Friday night.
A few hours later, their two daughters; a seven-year-old and a one-and-half-year-old, lay dead in a pool of blood. Their throats had been slit, a horror scene that has shocked residents at Tachasis village, Konoin constituency.
The bodies were found in the family kitchen, a few metres from the main house, which also has the couple’s bedroom.
“A 35-year-old man has been arrested by the police for the murder of his two young daughters on Friday night,” said Bomet County Police Commander Edward Imbwaga.
The mother of the two girls was also arrested on Saturday. Both are being interrogated at Mogogosiek police station.
Blood-stained kitchen knife
Police have recovered a blood-stained kitchen knife at the scene that is suspected to be the murder weapon.
Ms Eucabeth Kitur, the chief of Bosto Location, said preliminary investigations indicated that the couple had gone to a local drinking joint and returned home drunk.
They allegedly arrived home separately, with the man getting to the homestead ahead of his wife.
“The woman claims that she arrived home and did not find the children in the kitchen where they usually sleep. She further claimed that she left the home again and returned only to find their bodies in the kitchen,” Ms Kitur said.
The bed where the two young girls slept before they were murdered in Konoin, Bomet County on April 12, 2024.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation Media Group
But the couple’s narration of the events leading to the discovery of the bodies is said not to have added up.
The man is said to have gone to his parent’s home at around 11pm on Friday and reported the deaths of the children. This prompted the family to raise an alarm.
“He went to his parents’ home allegedly seeking to be told who could have killed his children whose bodies he claimed to have found lying in the kitchen,” a family member said in an interview.
Family members said the couple has been living together on and off for the last two years and were known to drink illicit brews late into the night.
The children, whom they are claimed to have neglected as a result of their drunkenness, had been accommodated by their grandparents, a short distance from the couple’s home.
According to the girls’ grandfather, the couple had three children, but the youngest was with them at the time of the incident. The victims had returned to their parent’s home for an overnight stay.
“Usually, the children stay with us (grandparents) but occasionally go to their parents' home and return. At times, they sleep at their home. It has never been an issue until yesterday night when this incident was reported,” he said.
"It is unbelievable that we have lost our two young grandchildren. We have left everything to the police and God to provide us with the answers," he added.
Bodies of the victims have since been moved to Kapkatet Sub-County Hospital mortuary in the neighbouring Kericho County, for preservations ahead of post-mortem being conducted and subsequent release to the family for burial.
