By SILAH KOSKEI

UASIN GISHU COUNTY: A 30-year-old man in Uasin Gishu County killed his two sons before hanging himself following a quarrel with his wife.

Residents of Ziwa, Legebet village woke up to a rude shock when they found the bodies of the two boys on their bed while the body of their father was hanging in the house.

Wareng sub-County Commissioner Christopher Wanjau said the man and his wife had been a casual labourers in Eldoret.

According to Wanjau, the father of two had a domestic dispute with his wife at their home in Kipkenyo village in Eldoret before taking the children to his ancestral home in Legebet on Monday night.

“The boys aged two and five years accompanied their father to his parents’ home and while they were asleep at night, he slit their throats with a knife before committing suicide,” he said.

Wanjau noted that they found open packets of ‘Rat and Rat’ in the house, a clear indication that the victim took the rat poison before finally hanging himself.

The bodies of the three were taken to Moi Teaching and Referral hospital as police commenced investigations.

Escaped death

Similar cases have been on the increase in the area following separate incidents witnessed recently in Kamagut and Soy villages.

In Kamagut village, a father stabbed his two children to death before killing himself while his wife escaped death narrowly following a domestic dispute.

In Soy constituency, a father killed his eight-year-old daughter leaving his two other children with knife wounds. The wife managed to escape the ordeal by jumping out of an open window.

The incident saw the man attack his children using a knife following a fight with his wife and later turning the knife to himself sustaining minor injuries.

Wanjau called on couples to opt for arbitration in solving conflicts saying that his office will not tolerate persons taking advantage of a quarrel to kill or maim innocent people.

“Whenever conflicts emerge, we should not vent our anger on innocent children but ought to solve them amicably as grownups,” he said.