Mother charged with cruelty: Viral video of assault to be used in court
A 19 – year – old woman who recorded a video of herself while allegedly assaulting her six-month-old son and shared the video with her baby daddy before posting it on social media was charged with cruelty to the child contrary to section 18 (1) as read with section 20 of the Children’s Act of 2001.
JNN is accused of willfully subjecting the baby to a cruel punishment by physically assaulting and hurling insults at him at their house in Mathare Sub County in Nairobi on July 13.
She is captured in the video that went viral on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and WhatsApp groups hurling insults to the baby while allegedly beating him in the video captured.
The suspect is captured assaulting the minor while dressing him after the bath.
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The matter was reported to a children’s rights group official in Mathare after seeing it on Instagram. The NGO official reported the matter to the police after watching the video.
The members of the community who knew the accused person helped the police and the NGO official to trace the suspect’s residence in the area where she was found but escaped before arrest.
Police officers later traced and arrested her after she returned home from hiding.
She denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Monica Kivuti of the Makadara Law Courts and pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms.
The accused person was remanded in custody until July 31 to await a pre-bail report before bail and bond terms are set.
The case will be mentioned on September 19 before the hearing starts on January 25, 2024.
The child has been placed at a children’s home for safety while the video has been recovered and kept to be used as an exhibit in the case against the accused person.
Also read: Mother from hell: Ugandan mom who went viral for torturing her daughter pleads guilty