Police arrest woman over husband’s murder

By JOB WERU

NYERI, KENYA:  A disagreement over a man’s drunkenness turned tragic after his wife allegedly stabbed him to death at Soweto in Nyeri County.

Julius Kanake, 64, was killed on Saturday night over what neighbours and relatives termed as a confrontation.

Kanake’s body was found outside his house after the assailant dragged it out, neighbours claimed.

Lydiah Ngari, a sister to the deceased, said they believed the wife killed their kin when he was asleep.

“We found blood stained beddings and we suspect she stabbed him to death before removing the body. He had several stab marks on the head,” she said.

Neighbours said they became suspicious after the woman ­— who is now in police custody — went to her brother-in-law’s home and asked him to go and check on Kanake.

“She told us Kanake was lying outside their house. She claimed he came home late and was fighting with some people whom she could not name,” said Ngari.

Kanake’s friend, Mr Samuel Gichunge, claimed he went to visit Kanake yesterday morning.

“I was outside the house early morning and I called him and his wife but nobody responded. I did not find anybody outside, until the wife came and reported that he was lying outside,” said Gichunge.

And Mr Cyprian Mutuma, a son-in-law to the couple said his three children spent the night with their grandparents and they heard a commotion at night.

“They said they heard their grandfather and mother arguing. The grandmother then went out at night, while the deceased slept,” said Mutuma.

He said the woman ordered the children to go home early in the morning and warned them not to tell anybody what happened.

Charged in court

Mr Julius Ngari said the couple had a rough marriage, noting that at one time the suspect locked her husband in the house and attempted to torch it. “She had also attacked her husband with a panga, but we engaged them in talks and solved the issue,” said Ngari.

Panic gripped the village in Kieni constituency following the murder of the man whose neighbours termed as social, outgoing and hardworking.

The couple, wedded in 1976, has five children, all married.

Yesterday morning, relatives and friends demolished a three-roomed timber house where the couple lived, and an adjacent kitchen.

Kieni OCPD Ancent Kaloki said the suspect would be charged in court after investigation is completed.

“She is in our custody and we are recording statements from the local community,” said Kaloki.