My husband's infidelity is the reason I am rotting behind bars

 Zipporah Bosibori who is serving life imprisonment at Kisii women's prison

Esther Kwamboka’s marriage was riddle with constant fights over infidelity and alcohol abuse He late husband moved out of their matrimonial bed after brining another woman into their house

There are more than five women at the Kisii Main Prison convicted of murder.

The officer in charge of the women prison Eunice Odhiambo, says currently there are 15 convicts and remandees at the facility.

“Most of these women claim that stress and anger drove them to commit the heinous crime,” she says.

Esther Kwamboka, 40, is one such inmate. She is among the five women at the facility who have been convicted of murder.

She pleaded guilty in court for killing her husband with whom she had five children. She committed the offence at her home in Gesonso village, Bonchari Kisii County in 2010.

She was charged with manslaughter and the court handed her a 10-year jail term and she could be out of prison in the next two years.

Her marriage to her late husband John Bosco, she says, was riddled with constant fights, often as a result of alcohol abuse and extra-marital affairs.

A few months before she killed her husband, Kwamboka says her husband had beaten and broken her leg.

The husband brought in a young girl whom he said could help them with house chores as the wife recuperated.

“We lived in a two-bedroomed house and the other woman was to sleep in one of the bedrooms. In less than two months, my husband moved out of our matrimonial bed and started sleeping with the woman,” says Kwamboka.

She says she relocated to her parents’ house where she stayed for eight months.

“I returned to my family for the sake of my children but my husband continued with his constant abuses,” she narrates.

When she returned to her husband’s place, the other woman had delivered a baby with her husband.

It dawned on her that she had a co-wife.

“This was the most painful experience in my life. My husband started ignoring me and never cared about me. He even denied me sex”, she says.

She narrates how on the fateful day, she took chang’aa to calm her nerves and headed home.

After supper, her husband arrived home and they got into a serious fight.

“I took some wooden object and hit him on the head. He fell down and collapsed. I knew he was dead since he didn’t respond hours later. I was shaking and screaming,” she says.

Kwamboka says she took herself to Gesonso Police Station to report the matter.

“God has a reason why I was put behind bars. I have learnt a lot in prison. Maybe it is time for me to go out and preach the gospel of repentance. At that time, I was depressed and nobody was willing to listen to me,” she explains.

Kwamboka says that her children have only visited her once in prison.

“I wish they understood that I never had any intention of killing their father. I was driven by anger,” she adds.

Zipporah Kerubo’s case is no different from Kwamboka’s.

She is spending time behind bars after killing her husband’s mpango wa kando at Ikonge market, Nyamira in 2011. She has been in prison for six years.

“I remember we had sold one of our cows as we had plans to buy a better breed. My husband disappeared from home and when I enquired about his whereabouts from his friends, I was told he had been spotted with another woman in the market,” she says.

“I went to his local bar only to find him in the arms of another woman. We had an altercation with the woman and she hit me on my forehead. I started bleeding and I stabbed her with a knife she was carrying. My husband was drunk at that time. This was the first incident and unfortunately it turned tragic.”

She told The Nairobian that they were both rushed to different hospitals, but after a few hours, she was driven to Nyamira Police Station and booked for murder.

“I didn’t know the other woman. Our family tried to solve the mater out of court but it was all in vain,” she adds.

“I have punished my family. The pain is too much. The killing was not intentional but out of anger and frustration. My husband is the reason why I was put behind bars,” she says adding that her husband has never visited her.