Kenyan Woman Arrested for Poisoning Her Child So As to Fly to Saudi Arabia for Work

A Kenyan woman has been arrested for allegedly poisoning her four-year-old daughter so as to be free to fly to Saudi Arabia to work as a housemaid.

The woman from Kandara, Murang’a County, is suspected to have committed the crime between November 6th and 7th after she secured employment in the Gulf nation through an agent and was scheduled to travel on November 16th, police said.

"She approached her husband with the news and requested that he be left taking care of the child ...," reads a police report of the incident as quoted by Nation.

When her husband turned down her plan, the suspect allegedly hatched a plan to kill the minor so as to be free to leave the country. She reportedly bought some yoghurt from a shop, laced it with poison, and fed it to her child.

"It is after she consumed the yoghurt that the baby developed severe vomiting and died minutes later. The yoghurt container emitted [a smell suspected to be of] a pesticide," the report added.

Police found a container of a half-used pesticide from the couple’s house whose smell matched that detected in the yoghurt container.

Kandara sub-county Police Commander Michael Mwaura said investigations into the child’s death are ongoing as they wait for a postmortem to determine the cause of her death. Mwaura said the report will help determine the next cause of action.