Residents of Murubara village in Kirinyaga County are in shock after a rice hay trader allegedly killed his wife and burnt her body after a family party.
Purity Wanjiku, 28, was burnt beyond recognition in the Monday night incident.
Villagers said the trader had organised a family party and invited friends. The partygoers made merry for hours.
Moments after they left, the man picked a quarrel with his wife over unknown reasons.
He took a knife and stabbed Ms Wanjiku to death in the house that the couple shared with their three children, aged between two and six.
As the house went up in flames, the trader hurriedly left with his children and lied to his neighbours that a gas cylinder had exploded and his wife was burning inside.
The neighbours raised the alarm, attracting scores of villagers, who unsuccessfully tried to put out the fast-spreading fire.
All household goods, including beds and mattresses, were destroyed.
Detectives arrested the trader and on frisking him found a blood-stained knife in a pocket in his trousers.
He was whisked off to the Wang'uru police station, where he was locked up for questioning.
Shocked residents at Murubara village in Kirinyaga County where a rice hay trader stabbed his wife to death and burnt her body inside the family house.
Photo credit: George Munene I Nation Media Group
"We are treating the matter as murder and very soon the suspect will be charged in court," Mr Kitavi said.
The woman’s father, Mr Peter Mburu, said he was at home in Kiamanyeki village when he received the sad news.
"When I heard what had happened, I rushed to the scene and I was shocked to see the badly burnt body of my daughter," he said.
"What I want is to see the assailant tried in a court of law and jailed," he said.
Another family member, Mr Peter Kinyanjui, said Ms Wambui was killed in a cruel manner by a man she had lived with as husband and wife.
"We never thought our daughter was gone until we saw her remains," said Mr Kinyuanjui, her uncle.
"He never quarreled with anyone and when we heard that he had fatally attacked his wife and attempted to conceal evidence by burning the house, we were taken aback," said Mr Mwangi Kamau
The incident came barely three days after another in which a woman stabbed her husband to death in a domestic dispute in Karucho village, Gichugu constituency.
In another recent incident, a man hacked his wife and son to death before taking his own life in Kiandai village in a suspected love triangle.
Since January this year, more than 30 people have been murdered.
