4-months baby dies after police block taxi past curfew hours

Dorothy Michieka

May 4, 2021 11:02 AM

The baby urgently needed oxygen was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

4-months baby dies after police block taxi past curfew hours

A four-month-old baby has died after police in Keroka stopped a taxi in which the family was in at a curfew roadblock in Nyamira County.

The baby, who had developed breathing complications on Saturday night at Gucha Hospital, was to be transferred to Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (KTRH).

The child’s grandfather had hired a taxi to take the baby and her mother, a 16-year-old Form Four student, to the hospital but were stopped at the police roadblock some minutes after 10pm.

10 police officers who were manning the Kisii- Keroka roadblock barred the taxi from going past the roadblock saying that it was already past curfew hours.

“We were held for more than 40 minutes at the roadblock despite having a referral letter from Gucha Hospital. Police insisted that we had defied the guidelines issued by the President,” said baby’s grandfather.

After about 40 minutes of pleading with the officers, the child’s grandfather said the police refused to allow them to pass through, with the driver having to use an alternative route to the hospital.

The baby who urgently needed oxygen was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Keroka Police say that the taxi driver had engaged the officers in an argument and was held up for only 15 minutes because of a traffic snarl-up at the roadblock.

The family is now seeking an independent inquiry into the investigations.

Dorothy Michieka