This archive report was first published on 6 September 2019.
On September 6, 2019, a family of 18 in Tabani village, Tongaren constituency, Bungoma County, Kenya, was left reeling after three of its members died and five others were hospitalized after consuming herbal medicine.
The victims were given the medicine by a herbalist who claimed it could cure various diseases. However, the medicine had a deadly effect, and three of the family members died just three minutes after consuming it.
According to Judith Situma, one of the daughters who lost her mother, the family had sought the herbalist's help before, but this time, the outcome was tragic.
"It's a great loss to have lost my mother when she was the only parent I had left. I don't understand what happened because this is not the first time my mother had visited this herbalist. We are left with a deep sense of loss," Situma said.
The incident has left the community in shock, and the police have been urged to arrest the herbalist and charge him with a crime.
