A 27-year-old woman has been charged with manslaughter after her six-year-old son was fatally injured by a cupboard in her house in Huruma estate, Nairobi while fleeing from her.
The woman is accused of unlawfully causing the death of the minor on July 12 contrary to Section 202 read with Section 205 of the Penal Code.
The accused was punishing the minor when he tried to run out of the house but accidentally hit the cupboard, injuring his head.
The minor lay in the house for about 30 minutes before he was taken to a nearby hospital while still unconscious, where he later died.
His body was then immediately taken to the City Mortuary where a postmortem was conducted on July 17 and the cause of death was determined to be a head injury caused by blunt force trauma.
The suspect has been in custody at Ruaraka Police Station since July 12 when the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) obtained an order to remand her pending investigation.
Director of Public Prosecutions
The DCI had recommended murder charges against her but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) reviewed the charges and charged her with manslaughter.
The ODPP relied on the provisions of Section 213 of the Penal Code, which sets out the circumstances in which a person may be deemed to have caused the death of another.
Section 213 (c) states that “if by actual or threatened violence one causes another to perform an act which causes the death of that person, such act being a means of avoiding such violence which in the circumstances would appear natural to the person whose death is so caused.”
The ODPP came to this conclusion because the minor fatally hit his head on the cupboard while allegedly fleeing from his mother, who was using violence against him, and therefore his death was unlawfully caused by the suspect, contrary to section 213 (c) of the Criminal Code.
The prosecution further stated that the DCI's investigation failed to establish the element of intent to kill and the suspect was charged with culpable homicide.
She denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi of the Makadara Law Courts and was released on a Sh200,000 bond.
The case is expected to come up for mention on 4 September before the trial begins on October 12 this year.
