Police in Busia County launched a murder investigation following the death of a one-year-old girl who was found with suspected strangulation marks at her home in Samia Sub-County.
The incident was reported on Tuesday.
According to police, the child’s grandmother left home at about 6 a.m. on Monday to look for fish at Busembe Beach, leaving behind her three school-going children and two grandchildren, aged three years and one year, who were asleep.
She returned at around 11 a.m. and found her one-year-old granddaughter, lying motionless in the corridor of the house with foam oozing from her mouth and nostrils.
At the time, the three older children had already left for school, while the three-year-old grandchild was reportedly playing with neighbouring children.
The distraught grandmother raised an alarm, attracting neighbours who responded to the scene before the child’s body was taken to Nangina Mission Hospital Mortuary.
It was at the mortuary that suspected strangulation marks were reportedly noticed on the child’s neck, prompting police to treat the case as a suspected murder.
Police officers visited both the scene and the mortuary, documented the evidence and launched investigations.
Four suspects have since been arrested to assist with the investigations.
The suspects are expected to be presented before court on Wednesday on a miscellaneous application as investigators seek more time to complete their inquiries.
Police said investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.
Elsewhere, police in Bungoma County have launched investigations after the body of an unidentified man was retrieved from River Nzoia in Webuye West Sub-County.
The incident was reported on Tuesday night after a village elder alerted authorities that a body had been spotted floating in the river near Machakha area.
Police responded to the scene with the assistance of local residents and volunteer searchers.
The team recovered the body of an unidentified man believed to be about 30 years old. He was dressed in a yellow T-shirt labelled “001” and black shorts.
Police said the body had no visible physical injuries.
The scene was photographed and documented before the body was transferred to Webuye County Hospital Mortuary, where it will undergo a post-mortem examination and await identification by relatives.
Investigations are ongoing to establish the deceased’s identity and determine the circumstances surrounding his death.
