A mother has told a Nakuru court that a romantic relationship she had could have blinded her to the signs of her daughter's abuse. Had she noticed the danger signs, Eunice Wangui's daughter Gabriella Mellisa may not have met an untimely death.
Wangui was in a relationship with Daniel Obonyo, who is accused of killing the 8-month-old child.
She told the High Court in Nakuru that on October 17, 2023, she and her daughter were at a neighbour's house when Obonyo visited her home in Nakuru's JB area. But as her boyfriend carried her child, the girl screamed and seemed somewhat frightened.
"He went straight to where the child was and took her. The child, however, started screaming but Obonyo ignored the cry and carried her," Ms Wangui told Justice Samuel Mohochi.
On seeing this, Wangui went to her sister's house to ask if she could look after the child for a while so that she could spend time with Obonyo. But her sister refused, saying she was going to a church fellowship that day.
They later went to her house and Obonyo gave her Sh150 to buy some food as he was hungry. Wangui told the court that she left the child with him while she went to the market. She returned 20 minutes later to find the child crying.
"I noticed that the child's head had some dirt on one side, but when I asked him about it, he said that he had put the child on the ground, insinuating that she might have [come into contact with the dirt while on the ground]," she said.
At around 6pm, Wangui asked Obonyo to come to the fellowship with her, but he refused, instead offering to stay at home with her daughter.
While at the fellowship, Wangui sent her younger sister to her house to bring tea and cups, but after a few minutes her sister returned in a panic and told her she had found Obonyo holding the baby outside the house.
"He told me that while feeding the girl she made a sound that scared him and he thought she was choking. I tried administering first aid and [then] boarded a vehicle to Mirugi Kariuki Sub-county Hospital," said Wangui.
One of them told her that the child was anaemic, but she protested. She knew, however, that her child was diabetic.
In a panic, Wangui and her friends took her daughter to Nakuru Level Five Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 7pm.
A post-mortem ruled out choking as the cause of death. Instead, it indicated that the child had been hit on the head with a blunt object. The pathologist also said there was a blood clot in the child's brain.
Wangui told the court that Obonyo later gave her his mobile phone and she found photos and videos he had taken of her child crying before her death.
"I saw another clip, which was recorded the previous week, showing Obonyo with my child at night trying to open her eyes with his fingers. In the clip, I could see that the child's eyes were red," she said.
According to Wangui, after her child’s death, Obonyo travelled to his rural home in Kisii County. He then called her and confessed to killing her daughter. Following this revelation, she reported the matter to the police and Obonyo was arrested and charged with the murder of the child.
