Four-Year-Old Dies After Suspected Poisoning by House Help in Salary Dispute

The death of a four-year-old girl in Ruai, allegedly at the hands of her house help, has ignited heated discussions on domestic worker vetting and child safety.

The gruesome incident happened after the child’s mother, Anne Wanjiru, had paid her domestic worker her Ksh 6,000 salary on the 3rd of the month.

“I had just paid her the salary, and the house help demanded her wages immediately. She had a fight with me saying that I don’t have her salary yet and that I should pick my child from the house help. And she said that she was leaving the job immediately,” Wanjiru said.

Investigation into Suspected Poisoning of a Four-Year-Old

On Tuesday night, Wanjiru found her child lying lifeless and cold at 11 PM.

“It was the worst experience of my life. I rushed the child to Kenyatta University Funeral Home, and later doctors pronounced her dead,” she said.

A distraught Wanjiru struggled to come to terms with the demise, “How can this happen to me? My child was alive, and she died due to a house helper. This is so devastating,” Wanjiru stated.

The police are currently investigating the cause of death of the four-year-old girl.

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Domestic Worker Vetting and Child Safety Concerns

The house help, identified as Joyce Onyang’o from Kisumu, allegedly disappeared from the scene shortly after the child’s demise, and police are on the lookout for her to determine whether she administered poison or if there was some other underlying issue.

“We have some leads, and we are following them vigorously in an effort to get the facts,” said a police officer involved in the case.

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The child’s mother has called for better vetting of domestic workers to prevent such incidents from recurring. “We need rigorous screening for domestic workers since we leave our children in their care,” Wanjiru stated.

The public has since expressed outrage and grief, with many calling for the government to step up. Investigations into the death of the child are still underway

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Kenyatta Hospital Funeral Home. PHOTO/File