Woman arrested over neglect of daughter with disabilities

Eunice Muringi, a Community Health Worker holds the frail Naomi Nyokabi after the girl was rescued at a house i which she is alleged to have been abandoned by her mother in Kiandutu slums.The mother has been arrested. [PHOTO: KAMAU MAICHUHIE].

An abandoned 17-year-old girl suffering from cerebral palsy has been rescued by officers from the Children's Department.

The girl was found in a shack in Kiandutu slums, Thika sub-county, where she lived before her mother allegedly abandoned her two months ago.

The officers rescued the girl with the help of police officers from Thika Police Station after a tip-off from the public. She appeared malnourished and weak.

Thika West Children’s officer Rebecca Kariuki claimed the girl had stayed for weeks without food and water after her mother abandoned her, claiming she was “demonic”.

“It was terrible and we wondered why a mother could abandon her own child, more so one with such a condition. We found her shoved into a baby cot in a corner of the poorly-lit room. She was very weak and malnourished. She could barely talk,” said Ms Kariuki.

The girl’s plight was first brought to the limelight about five years ago when her father sought the intervention of the children’s office to have her mother compelled to take care of her after they separated. 

The father claimed the woman had left with her other seven children but decided to leave the girl with him together with her ailing grandmother.

When the woman appeared before the Thika children's officer, she was advised to take an active role in the care of the girl, more so now that she was now in her puberty.

Children's office

However, the girl’s mother later visited the children's office and alleged that she was unable to handle her daughter as some relatives had cursed her.

The woman alleged that her daughter was exhibiting ‘demonic behaviour’, an allegation that she could not substantiate.

The mother of eight works as a subordinate staff at the Thika Level Five Hospital. 

Yesterday, the children's officer insisted the girl’s condition was a result of hunger and lack of proper care. She has been admitted to the Thika Level Five Hospital and was said to be in a stable condition.

Her mother has been arrested and is being held at the Thika Police Station.

The woman wailed as police officers tried in vain to calm her down.

She denied neglecting her daughter. She claimed the child had been possessed with 'demonic power'.

“I know my daughter has been cursed by some relatives who harbour ill feelings against her,” she said.