KCPE candidate beaten to death by parents for spending night away from home

A 14-year-old girl who sat this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination was on Monday beaten to death by her parents for allegedly spending the night away from home.

Residents of Musangura village in Bungoma County say the girl, Abigael Namukhosi – who was a KCPE candidate and scored 277 marks out of 500 – had been sent on an errand by her mother on Sunday but failed to return home.

When she came back on Monday evening, her parents were angry with her for spending the night away allegedly at her boyfriend’s house and also for failing in her studies.

A neighbour said that she heard screams before seeing the girl being pulled out of the house by her father, who continued to beat her up as heavy rains pound the area.

As the man meted out the brutality on his daughter, the mother was allegedly watching as she got accused of performing poorly in school and sleeping with boys in the village.

Narrating the ordeal, the girl’s aunt, Hellen Nafula, said: “Last evening, the mother called me and told me that Abigael had returned home and she was in the house being beaten up by her father. I asked her why she is allowing her daughter to be beaten while she is just watching.”

“She hang up then called me again and told me the father, who is my brother, cannot stop beating the girl. I told her to raise alarm and call the neighbours. She then gave the daughter the phone and I could hear her screaming and saying, ‘auntie I am dying, mum and dad have tied me with a rope on the legs and stomach I can’t breath…,'” said Hellen Nafula.

The aunt says she couldn’t manage to come to her niece’s rescue.

Police have arrested the girl’s mother Gertrude Barasa, while her father Meshack Barasa is said to be at large.