This archive report was first published on 8 August 2020.
On Wednesday evening, a disturbing incident unfolded in Kakamega County, leaving a young boy with severe burns on his hands.
According to reports, the boy's mother, 38, had accused him of eating two chapatis she had prepared, leading to a vicious beating.
The boy, a Grade 2 pupil, claimed that his mother dragged him into the house, beat him up, and then used pieces of hair extension to tie his hands before dousing them with paraffin and setting them alight.
"My mother dragged me into the house and beat me up before she ordered that I remove my clothes. She then used some pieces of braids to tie my hands. She then doused my hands in paraffin and set them alight," the boy recounted.
Fortunately, the boy managed to escape from the house and reported the incident to neighbours, who went to investigate and found him with severe burns on his hands.
Mr Geoffrey Bakuli, an official from the Urafiki Initiative, reported the matter to the police and took the boy to a rescue centre for victims of violence.
The organisation is involved in a campaign to protect children from violence.
The boy's grandfather, Jackton Shikuku Mukongolo, expressed shock at the incident, saying, "I was away when the incident happened and our neighbours told me that they had seen the boy with burns on his hands. When I talked to him, he said his mother had beaten him up and doused his hands in paraffin and set them on fire,"
Shocked villagers claimed that the woman had been mistreating her son for a long time after she had a disagreement with her husband.
She had earlier been arrested after she scalded the boy with a piece of hot metal on the back.
