A few hours before Jackline Jemutai Kimaiyo was brutally murdered by her husband, her father, David Kiyeng, thought he had rescued her.
Mr Kiyeng had covered 330km from Iten to Nyeri to facilitate a reconciliation between his daughter and her husband, Evans Koskei, 28, over some misunderstandings.
The father then made the short trip to Jemutai's workplace -- a secondary school within Nyeri -- where he told the principal everything was fine. It wasn't.
Jemutai, who will be laid to rest on Thursday, was a teacher at Itundu Secondary School in Mathira East Sub-County, where she taught Physics.
In 2023, she left her rural home in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, to seek employment as a secondary school teacher in Nyeri County.
In a cruel twist of fate, a year later after her employment, she died at the hands of her husband in what is suspected to be a love gone sour.
She was employed at the school on March 16, 2023, and killed on March 6.
Left colleagues traumatised
Mr James Mutungu, the school's principal, said Jemutai had been employed by the board.
“We all knew her as a humble teacher who was always punctual and dedicated to her work. We have never discussed any personal matters with her. She was humble and reserved. The news about her death came as a shock to all of us,” he said.
However, Mr Mutungu said he only came to know about the domestic issues on the eve of the killing from the victim’s father, who disclosed to him that he had come to meet his daughter to aid reconciliation with her partner.
“I learnt from the father that he had successfully reconciled the two the previous night before he retired for the night in the neighbourhood. However, in a shocking turn of events when he went to her daughter’s house in the morning to bid her goodbye, he found something amiss,” he said.
“The door was bolted from outside and when he tried to call her there was no answer. When the door was finally opened the lifeless body of Jemutai was found lying on the floor in a pool of blood.”
Nation.Africa found the single-roomed houses where Jemutai lived with her partner deserted with no sign of life.
Mathira East police commander Benjamin Boen said Jemutai’s husband Koskei was a guard with a security firm in Karatina town.
He is believed to have killed Jemutai on March 6 before fleeing to Mombasa with detectives hot on his heels.
While in pursuit, they monitored his movements until Monday, when his mobile signal went off.
“His lifeless body was found hanging on a tree around the Jomoko area on Thika-Mangu Road. He was found with the ID of his deceased partner and a suicide note indicating he was equally responsible for the murder,” he said.
He said the matter is still under investigation, but the police are yet to establish what could have transpired between the couple, leading to the heinous act.
When contacted, Jemutai’s father told Nation.Africa he was preparing for his daughter’s burial.
A month ago, Kosgei had hinted at killing his wife as per posts on X, formerly Twitter, over infidelity.
In one of the many tweets, Kosgei even boldly tagged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, narrating how he was planning to end the life of his wife.
“My sweetheart you decides (sic) to go against all what we promised each other nine years ago. I had confided in you, I trusted you more than I was trusting my own parents,” part of the tweet read. He further accused his wife of betraying him.
