Official arrested over plot to kill ex-husband, his kin

By OSINDE OBARE

Bungoma County: A Devolution Ministry official has been arrested after she allegedly hired a hitman to kill her ex-husband and four members of his family.

The woman allegedly paid Sh250,000 to have the man killed alongside his co-wife.

The woman reportedly engaged a friend to look for hitmen for the job that would have taken place last Sunday in Bokoli village, in Bungoma County’s Kimilili area.

The friend, in her search for the hitman, unknowingly picked a police officer who agreed to execute the assassination.

The man who works in the Netherlands had separated from the woman two-years-ago and married a second wife. The couple jetted into the country last week to attend the burial of a relative unaware of the scheme to have them killed.

Pictures of bodies

Trans-Nzoia County Commander Mrs Lillian Okembo said they are holding the woman and the casual worker identified as her accomplice in the murder plot.

Addressing journalists at her Kitale office, Mrs Okembo said the suspect had promised to pay the police officer Sh250,000 after the job was complete.

“She had sought the services of a hit man when her associate fortunately chose one of our officers to do the job and it is then that we moved in to arrest the woman,” said Okembo.

According to her, the suspect confessed that it has taken over one month to plan the killing including getting the cash for the job.

She added that the accused went to the burial with the officer and showed the ‘hitman’ the people she wanted killed, moments after the burial of her father in-law.

“The suspects identified the people she wanted eliminated and demanded to be shown pictures of their bodies after the murder,” she said.

Okembo said on the day intended for the job, the ‘hitman’ instead relocated the targets to create the impression they had been abducted for murder, fearing that the suspect could have hired other people to ensure the mission was carried out.

The officer then faked the murders and delivered pictures of the supposed dead family members to the woman who was waiting in Kiminini area near Kitale.

“Our officer then headed to a hotel in Kiminini to deliver the pictures where we had laid an ambush and arrested her. She later confessed to having plotted the murder,” said Okembo.

The suspect, who is a mother of two, is said to have claimed she was emotionally disturbed by the husband’s second marriage.

On Tuesday, Okembo appealed to separated couples not to turn against each other by planning murder but instead move on with life.

“Separation, however painful, does not grant any party permission to end the life of the other person. It is satanic and a bad thing to plan to kill,” she said.