In a ruling of its kind, a court in Murang’a, central Kenya, has sentenced to eight months in prison a single mother fund guilty of neglecting her 12 year old daughter.

Thirty-year-old Jane Ndungu appeared before the Murang’a Law Courts facing charges of wilfully neglecting the welfare of her 12-year-old daughter between March 2024 and June 2025, a case that has sparked public outcry in Mukuyu, Murang’a County.

According to prosecution reports, the single mother knowingly and deliberately failed to take care of her daughter, causing her to become a child in need of care and protection. The girl was reportedly found living on the streets of Mukuyu without access to food, shelter, education or medical care.

Section 142 of the Kenyan law child neglect “means a child who lives in difficult circumstances and needs to be protected from all kinds of neglect, abuse or exploitation” or “a child living on or off the streets.”

Further, the law refers to child neglect as a child who, “because of abuse, neglect, poverty, community upheaval or any other reason, has left his or her home, family or community and lives, begs or works on the streets” or child who “because of inadequate care, begs or works on the streets but returns home at night.”

Investigations revealed that the child, now institutionalised at the Murang’a Juvenile Remand Home, survived with help of well-wishers and was at times forced to engage in commercial sex for money for food and basic necessities.

The teenaged girl not enrolled in school and had allegedly been introduced to substance abuse – cannabis sativa – by her mother. She fed on bhang when there was no food in the house. Authorities further noted that the girl was often forced to sleep on cold floors outside their squalid house, especially when her mother was entertaining lovers in their poorly maintained hovel.

“The conditions this child was living in were heart-breaking,” a child protection officer involved in the case said. “No child should ever have to endure what she went through.”

Community members and local leaders confirmed the family had long been in crisis. The Mukuyu village chief said Ndung’u had no fixed abode and moved frequently, frustrating efforts by neighbours and local authorities to intervene.

“She was always on the move. We’d hear complaints but she never stayed in one place long enough for meaningful action,” the chief stated

One neighbour told the court, “We saw the child suffering. She was unkempt, hungry and often alone. We tried talking to her mother several times but she would dismiss us or react defensively.”

During her court appearance on September 1, Jane Ndung’u expressed deep remorse and pleaded for a non-custodial sentence. Tearfully, she admitted her failures and pledged to change.

“I failed my daughter and I am ashamed,” she told the court. “I beg this court to give me a chance to make things right and rebuild my relationship with her.

The child told the court to forgive her mother saying she is the only relative she has since her dad left when she was younger. Despite her plea, Chief Magistrate Peter Ndwiga ruled that the gravity of neglect warranted custodial punishment.

Ndung’u was sentenced to eight months in prison, with the court emphasising the need for accountability in matters involving child welfare.

The child remains under state protection as authorities work with the Department of Children Services to determine a suitable long-term care arrangement.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Purity Mugo and Grace Njumwa