This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
On Christmas Day, a six-month-old baby in Kakamega County met a tragic end at the hands of a chicken, sparking a series of unusual events that would unfold during the burial.
According to reports, the baby was playing outside his home when the broody hen attacked him in defence of her chick, which the child had mistaken for a toy.
Robai Toboko, the baby's mother, recalled the traumatic incident, saying: 'My baby was traumatised and cried for a while and then became unconscious.'
The child's father, Haggai Bushuru, explained that he had left his baby and wife at home to attend church, only to receive a distress call from his wife at 1 pm, saying the infant had fainted.
Despite taking the baby to church for prayers before rushing him to hospital, the child sadly passed away.
During the funeral mass, village elders believed that the hen and her chicks had to be killed to cleanse the land of 'murder', fearing the chicks would grow into a 'murderous brood'.
After burying the baby's body, young men were tasked with catching the chicken and her eight chicks. An elder then cut the neck of the hen and threw it onto the fresh grave, where it ran up and down before finally laying down dead.
The chicken was later cooked and served exclusively to select elders, who believed that this would help banish evil spirits that may come back to haunt the family.
The chicks were killed one after the other and disposed of in an undisclosed area.
