Police in Keumbu, Kisii, on Sunday took into custody a 25-year-old woman suspected of killing her nine-year-old daughter after misplacing the Sh10 she had been sent to buy a chapati with.
Grace Nyandusi is said to have killed the girl on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred in Nyaribari Chache.
Police had a hectic time restraining villagers who wanted to lynch the suspect.
Her husband was away in Nairobi where he works.
The deceased was a pupil at Gesare Primary School and was at home for a weekend break.
Area assistant Calvin Kengara said the the money might have gotten lost when the girl wandered into a sugarcane farm while on her way to an eatery.
"It is upon returning and attempting to explain what happened that her incensed mother turned on her with a chapati roller hitting her on the head," the chief said.
The mother, said the chief, had pulled the child out from the house where she had run to hide before fatally beating her.
" She beat her until she became unconscious and when she realised she had passed out, she let out a scream alerting neighbours," said Kengara.
He said when he arrived, he found the daughter lying on a chair dead.
The child's body has since been removed to Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.
County Police Commander Francis Kool said detectives have commenced investigations.