A Catholic Priest allegedly suffocated a mother and her son to death before he committed suicide in Kenya, FaceofMalawi has learned.
Investigations into the matter reveal that Kelvin Kipkoech first killed Charity Cheboi (35) and her son Allan by suffocating them before taking his own life.
It was established that Kipkoech had locked himself in the toilet using a lock where his body was found.
“Had there been another party in the house, there is no way he could have locked the toilet from the inside. It seems it is the deceased man who locked it to enhance his mission to die,” said one officer involved in the probe.
The detectives from the Homicide Unit said they had, however, not established the motive of the murder and suicide.
The investigative team is yet to visit St Thomas of Aquinas Seminary in Nairobi, where Kipkoech schooled and was in his eighth year due to graduate as a Catholic priest this year, to get more information on his character.
“We don’t know if he is hapless because he was to graduate and be a priest or there were any other issues. We intend to dig further on his character,” said another officer who asked for enormity.
Cheboi and her Son Allan are set to be buried on Thursday, June 10, in their village in Elgeyo Marakwet, the same village as Kipkoech.
The postmortem revealed that the two died due to suffocation.
Government Chief Pathologist Dr. Johanses Oduor said a hand or a cloth was placed on the mouth and nose of the mother and son to deny them oxygen.
The boy has injuries on the neck and mouth while the mother had superficial subcutaneous injuries on her high right upper arm, an indication she was defending herself before she died.
Dr. Oduor said the priest to be had cherry red tissues, which are found in the body of a person who has died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Kipkoech’s body was found in the toilet with his hands and feet dead. The tie, according to the police was loose and could have been done by the priest himself.
Further according to the autopsy the mother and the son died earlier.
Neighbors said they saw the priest a day after Cheboi was seen entering her house
In the house, police discovered his clothes had some blood stains but the body did not have visible injuries.
The stain was confirmed to be from the injuries from the son and his mother who both had blood oozing from their mouths.
“The mother and son died earlier than the man. This is because there was advanced decomposition on the two bodies while that of the man was fairly fresh. He might have died a day after the others,” disclosed Odour.
Police say they are yet to the white substance that was found in the bedroom of the woman and her son.
It is being analyzed by experts even as the case has not been concluded.
Among those interrogated were neighbors where the incident happened and the caretaker who called the police
