Police in Kiambu on Thursday arrested a man believed to have sired a child with a 16-year-old girl and then neglecting them.
The man identified as Patrick Kamau Wanjiku, 20, reportedly impregnated the girl and had promised to support her when she delivered. He invited her to his house and has been cohabiting with her as a wife.
According to the grandmother who was staying with the teenager before she met the man, the girl was instructed to move to his house so that he could take responsibility when she delivered.
Talking to KNA outside Kiambu police station, the grandmother, Elizabeth Wangui, while holding the baby said the man chased away her granddaughter when she went into labour.
“She nearly delivered in a matatu when he threw her out of his house at night,” she said.
Wangui further explained that the man was faking his age and that he was not aged 20 years as he had reportedly been engaged as an untrained teacher in their village when he completed school some years back.
“It’s only that he is small bodied and that is why he chose to say that he was 20 years old,” she said, adding that efforts to have him take responsibility after the baby was born had been futile.
She added that he was even abusive and denies having sired the baby and yet he had accepted and promised to take responsibility when the baby was born.
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The man had told the children officers that he had met the girl in a nightclub in Kiambu town and expressed an interest to stay with her.
Ann Wambugu, an assistant children officer who called the police, said the man’s grandmother and that of the girl had been to the office severally. She said they were progressing well with their reconciliation efforts but later, the man appeared to have been influenced to renege on responsibilities a fact which compelled her to call in the officers.
Kamau was expected to be arraigned in court Friday to face defilement charges owing to the age of the girl.
