They toyed with death and survived by a whisker, but their older brother, aged six, was not so lucky. He died of suspected strangulation.
Although the two, aged two and four, narrowly escaped the grim reaper, they are too young to understand why their father, who is supposed to protect them, turned against them.
The traumatising ordeal happened in seconds, but may remain etched in their minds for years to come.
The two are said to have watched their brother’s life ebb away at the hands of their father.
According to the minors, their father lured them into a forest with milk before attempting to take their lives.
Although he succeeded in strangling one of the children, the other two raised the alarm, attracting neighbours who saved their lives, according to testimonies from neighbours.
“Dad alituambia anaenda kutununulia maziwa, lakini tukafika kwa msitu akaanza kutuua. (Dad told us he was going to buy us milk at a nearby shop, but he started strangling our brother in a nearby forest),” one of the minors revealed.
“Tulipiga kelele ndio majirani wakaja wakatusaidia (We screamed and attracted the attention of the neighbours who came and rescued us),” the minor added.
The father is said to have fled the scene after the incident.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Nakuru are now hunting for the father – Mr Bernard Kiprotich Korir, 29, a casual labourer in Nyota village, Kuresoi North Constituency, Nakuru County – who they believe is the prime suspect in the bizarre murder.
According to neighbours, Mr Korir, who had been absent for two days, resurfaced on Sunday before luring the minors to their deaths.
“Korir had disappeared two days earlier after having some domestic differences with his wife and only resurfaced on Sunday,” revealed a neighbour, Paul Kimetto.
Neighbours say Korir had a troubled marriage with his wife, Ms Faith Chebet Korir, 26.
“The incident may have been triggered by the domestic disputes. He seems to have come back home with a mission to wipe out his entire family and luckily his wife was away so he decided to take the lives of the children,” said another neighbour, John Langat.
Taking advantage of his wife Chebet’s absence, Korir took the minors, who had been left in the care of their grandmother, and promised to buy them milk at a nearby shop.
Little did the grandmother know that he intended to kill them.
Mr Kiprotich allegedly tricked the minors’ grandmother into believing that he needed the children to accompany him to a nearby shop to buy milk.
Unbeknownst to her, the grandmother let the children go, thinking that they would return, but Mr Kiprotich had evil plans.
He took the innocent minors to the forest, a kilometre from their home, and did the unthinkable.
He began to strangle them, starting with the oldest one.
He strangled the eldest, who died instantly, and then turned to the other children, but they raised the alarm and attracted neighbours, who rescued them.
“God saved the rest of the children. They would have died too,” neighbour Jane Langat, who was among the first responders, told the Nation.
Curious neighbours responded to the distress calls and rescued the two, who were lying unconscious on the ground, but Korir fled the scene.
A neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she saw Korir walking past his gate with the minors and they all looked happy and one could not suspect that he had anything bad under his sleeves.
She said a few moments later she heard screams coming from the forest and called her son who rushed with her to the forest only to be shocked to see the three lying on the ground.
On checking, they discovered that the eldest son was already dead while the two (a boy and a girl) were unconscious.
She said she called for help from other neighbours and alerted the area headman, who later informed the police.
Police officers later rushed to the scene, but the suspect was nowhere to be seen – he had already fled.
“They were just passing by and he was even playing with his children, you could not suspect anything. It’s sad that he chose to do this. He killed one and tried to kill the other two. They were taken to hospital, they were so weak,” she said.
In an interview with the Nation, Kuresoi North Police Commander Judah Gathenge revealed that they have since launched a manhunt for the suspect, who fled the scene.
According to the sub-county police boss, there was a smell of poison at the scene but they could not ascertain what it was as they did not find any evidence, adding that they suspected the suspect may have tried to poison her first.
He said they found strangulation marks on the neck of the deceased and the four-year-old boy who was rescued.
After questioning, he said, the woman revealed to detectives that they had been married for five years but had had some domestic disputes.
“We suspect that he was upset by his mother-in-law’s visit, they have been married for five years and there is no day that the man has paid the dowry, he thought the mother-in-law was coming to ask for it. Investigations are ongoing and soon the law will catch up with him,” said the police chief.
The two minors are currently receiving medical attention at Molo Sub-County Hospital in Nakuru.
Molo Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Susan Wanjiku says the children are in a stable condition as the body of the deceased has been taken to Molo Sub-County Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
