Woman intentionally drowned children in Nanyuki: High Court

What you need to know:

  • The woman confessed to throwing the children into the dam.
  • Postmortems showed the children died as a result of drowning.

A woman who drowned her two children in a dam and later confessed to killing them has been found guilty of murder by the High Court in Nanyuki.

Justice Mary Kasango ruled that Ann Wamaitha intentionally killed her children aged six and nine years on May 30, 2014 at her parent’s home in Nanyuki.

MURDER

The judge made the ruling after hearing evidence from eight prosecution witnesses, including family members.

“The accused intended to cause death to her children. She said as much in her confession. In taking the children to the dam and drowning them, there was but only one result she intended – the death of those children,” said Justice Kasango.

Among the prosecution witnesses was Wamaitha’s brother, who saw one of the children’s jackets floating in the dam.

He informed his mother and grandmother. The two bodies were later removed from the dam by the police with help from members of the public.

Doctor Karimi Kinyua, who performed the postmortems on the two bodies, testified that there were no external injuries but the children’s lungs were full of water.

“The lungs had fluid on dissection. The stomach was full of fluid. The conclusion of the doctor in respect of both children was that both died of asphyxiation following drowning,” he said.

CONFESSION

Inspector of police Anderson Kimathi, who was the case investigating officer, told the court that Wamaitha willingly confessed that she had thrown her two children into the dam.

Mr Kimathi said he was carrying out his rounds at the cells when he found Wamaitha crying.

“On asking her why she was crying she said she wanted to tell the truth. She told me we should investigate no further – that she committed the offence,” the officer narrated to court.

The court heard that she demanded to confess in the presence of her brother and they both signed the caution document.

The confession was recorded by Chief Inspector Michael Otinya, according to the Evidence Act, which prohibits the investigating officer from recording it.

RULING

Wamaitha did not object to the statement which was produced in court saying “I confess that I am the one who drowned Y N W and V K W [the children] in a deep pond at Wangwaci resulting to their death.”

At the close of the prosecution’s case, the accused opted to offer no evidence in her defence.

The court ruled that Wamaitha had “malice aforethought”, which means she intended to kill the children.