Man kills friend over love chats with wife

A photo of Kipkemoi Tomno who was killed near AIC Kabarnet farm in Rongai subcounty. [Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

A 31-year-old man is being held at Menengai police station in Rongai subcounty, Nakuru, after he allegedly killed his friend following suspicion he was having an affair with his wife.

Rongai subcounty deputy police commander Shadrack Marwa said Julius Kipkemboi from Kabasis in Kabarnet hacked Kipkemboi Tomno on Saturday morning before presenting himself at the station.

Marwa said Kipkemboi, an electrician, confessed to officers that he was shocked to learn that Tomno, his trusted friend, could have been having an affair with his wife.

According to an investigating officer who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to media, Kipkemboi had been spying on his wife’s phone before committing the crime.

The officer said the suspect was agitated after he discovered the two were exchanging love messages through WhatsApp.

“The suspect cried during interrogation saying that he was shocked to read some of the messages,” said the officer.

Communication by the two is said to have been for a while, an issue that disturbed him.

Kipkemboi allegedly confronted his wife, who further told him their three-month-old baby was fathered by his friend.

Charged, he boarded a vehicle from Kabarnet where his wife lives, to Rafiki area, near Kabarak, where he owns an electronic shop, where he planned the murder.

The investigator said the suspect tricked his friend that he wanted to meet him for work and when Tomno went to see him he attacked, killing him instantly.

“Though the deceased was to meet the suspect at his shop, he confronted him along the road and hacked him to death,” said the investigator.

The body was discovered lying in a pool of blood along the road with several stab wounds on the chest, head, face and back.

Police recovered murder weapons at the scene of crime and took the body to Nakuru County morgue.

“Investigations to arraign the suspect to court where he will be charged with murder is ongoing,” said Marwa.

Efforts by The Standard to reach the family of the suspect remained futile as his wife's phone number was unreachable.

The deceased's wife Doris Kairu, told The Standard that her husband received several calls on Friday evening from a person alleging to be a client.

"A man called my husband at around 7pm and informed him that he had an electricity problem and needed an electrician," said Ms Kairu.

Kairu however said she dissuaded her husband from leaving the house late at night given the curfew.

"I asked my husband to ignore the call because it was late and we were tired. However, the next morning, the same person called and my husband decided to go. The next I heard is that he had been killed," she said.

Kairu wants justice for the murder of her husband. She described him as a calm man who had no quarrels with neighbours.