A 38-year-old man in Homa Bay has been arrested by police after allegedly killing his daughter.
The man identified as Grachines Lovely Odingo is said to have killed his seven-year-old daughter after he forced her to drink petrol.
Police reports indicate Odingo committed the heinous crime on Monday evening at his house in Minyere village, South Kanyikela Sub-location in Ndhiwa Sub County.
The body of the minor, a grade two pupil at Minyere Primary School, was found decomposing in their house on Tuesday morning with an empty bottle of petrol next to it.
It is not yet established whether the petrol substance contained poison.
Ndhiwa Sub-County Police commander John Losia said the suspect who had gone missing surrendered himself at Homa Bay Police Station after committing the crime.
Losia said his colleagues in Homa Bay called and informed him that someone had presented himself to them.
“My colleagues in Homa Bay called me to say that a man had claimed that he killed his child in the Kanyikela area, around Sukari Industry. I told them to detain him for our officers to go there because there were high chances he was the one we were looking for,” Losia said.
Losia sent his officers to Homa Bay Police Station and took the suspect to Ndhiwa Police Station upon approval that he was the suspect in the child’s murder.
“We established that he is the father of the deceased girl. We have taken him to Ndhiwa Police Station for further interrogation. We are going to take him to court,” Losia said.
Loisa said preliminary investigations indicate the suspect had forced the deceased daughter to drink a litre of petrol.
Area Assistant Chief Javana Abuto said information gathered had indicated attempts by the deceased to refuse to drink the substance were futile as the suspect forced her.
“We got a report that the girl was assaulted after she declined to consume the petrol. The suspect forced her to take the substance,” Abuto said.
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The body of the minor was found decomposing in their house on Tuesday morning. A bottle of petrol was found next to the girl’s body, indicating that she was poisoned.
The girl was a Grade Two pupil at Minyere Primary School.
Abuto liaised with police who took the body to Manyatta Kobodo Mortuary.
The chief said the incident might have been fueled by a domestic difference between the suspect and his wife.
He said the couple separated three months ago but the man remained with the children.
“The man differed with his wife before they separated three months ago. The father has been staying with the children. What might have fueled the problem is that the man had heard that his wife had presented a case before the office of the children’s department,” Abuto said.
