Woman kills husband and attempts to secretly bury the body

Shock and grief engulfed residents of Matunda village in lower Gatanga Sub-County in Murang’a County after a 47-year old woman allegedly killed and burnt the body of her husband.
The Saturday 5am incident left local residents speechless after Edith Nyaguthii assisted by two of her children attacked James Maina with a machete and axe killing him on the spot.
The local residents told KNA that the woman went further to burn the body by dousing it with paraffin and thereafter attempted to bury the body.
Residents also claimed that they cornered the wife and her two children in the process of digging a grave to bury the body under the cover of darkness.
Police recovered a hammer, axe and a panga believed to have been the murder weapons used to kill Maina which were hidden in a latrine.
The incident is said to have happened when the deceased arrived home while drunk and a domestic quarrel erupted occasioning the gruesome murder.
A brother to the deceased James Ndirangu said they were attracted by smoke and a flame emanating from the home prompting them to go and find out what was burning.
“On arrival we found the body of my brother wrapped in beddings burning outside the house and the wife was digging a grave while assisted by two of her daughters,” noted Ndirangu.
Locals said the family had been having domestic feuds for long but lamented that what happened had left the whole village in shock.
“In this village we have never witnessed such an incident and it is a pity to kill someone you have been living with in the same house,” lamented another resident John Maina.
A neigbhour, Naomi Kimani said the couple had a stormy marriage observing that the husband and the wife had separated for a long time and had only rejoined just two years ago.
“Nyaguthii separated with Maina some years back and got married to another man at Ndonyo Sabuk only to return to her first marriage about two years later. On Friday the two accompanied each other at the chief’s camp and were registered for HudumaNamba,” added Ms. Kimani.
Police officers who arrived at the scene of crime led by Gatanga Criminal Investigations Officer James Mwangi arrested the wife together with two of her children to help in the police investigations.
He said local residents directed police officers to where the weaponry used to kill the father of four were hidden.
“We have to carry out more investigations on the incident. The wife and two of her children have been arrested as police embark on more investigations to unearth the reality,” said Mwangi.
The body was removed to Thika Level 5 Hospital mortuary for postmortem.
By Bernard Munyao