Police in Nkubu, Imenti South, Meru County have arrested a 25-year-old man who is suspected to have hacked to death his three-year-old daughter and seriously injured his wife after a domestic row.
Boniface Murithi, a tea picker at Murungurune had picked a quarrel with his wife Mary Nchabira, 31 after which he slashed her on the arm with a machete, nearly severing it.
Instinctively, their child Princess Kawira crawled towards the injured mother and was hacked on the head. She died instantly.
Ms Nchabira also received a blow to the stomach, leaving her intestines exposed. She is recuperating at Consolata Mission Hospital, Nkubu.
The suspect later took off and went into hiding until he contacted his brother, Peter Mugambi, a local gospel musician popularly known as Mister P, seeking assistance to escape.
The musician, however, notified the police and a plan to lure him out of the hideout was mooted.
Mr Mugambi said the brother had wanted to get to Maua in Igembe South, which he is familiar with as it is near their home in Ncheme village.
The suspect claimed that he had found the wife with another man and that is what triggered the fight.
“He had told me that his life was in danger as people were looking for him after the incident and he wanted to flee. I decided to inform the police. When he showed up at the agreed place, he found us with the OCS and he was arrested,” the musician recounted.
Confirming the incident, Imenti South police boss William Maronga said Murungurune OCS nabbed the man as he was about to board a Maua-bound vehicle.
He said the man will be charged with murder, assault and causing grievous harm once investigations are completed.
Mr Mugambi narrated how the couple, which met while working as tea pickers, fell in love and were blessed with two children, the deceased and a boy aged one.
He said the two usually went on drinking sprees together, and would normally fight and later make up.
“My brother had been a calm man but became rowdy after he started drinking. The woman had other children before their marriage but they don’t live with the couple,” said Mr Mugambi.
He said the family had started looking for funds to help in the burial of the child. The body has been moved to Meru Level Five hospital mortuary.
“Some relatives were of the opinion that we should abandon the body due to poverty. My parents’ house was razed six months ago and they have not yet rebuilt it. We are poor but I am talking to friends to help us hive the child a decent burial,” said Mr Mugambi.
