Man burns wife to death in row

A bruised ego led a 56-year-old man in Kipkeikei village, Kapng’etuny location, Nandi County, to kill his wife.

The man, a matatu driver, set his family house ablaze, killing Violet Were on claims that having more money had led her to extra-marital affairs and denying him his conjugal rights.

Police reports indicate the man locked himself up in the house with his wife, 40, before setting it alight.

“He poured petrol inside the house then lit a matchbox, and both sustained grave burns. The wife later succumbed to her injuries,” said area Chief John Cheruiyot.

The man survived the fire after neighbours broke down the door and pulled him out.

“Unfortunately the woman could not be saved from the fire, which destroyed their house completely. The man, however, survived with about 70 per cent burn injuries,” confirmed the chief who called the police to retrieve the woman’s body and the injured man.

Neighbours claimed the victim was the man’s second wife and that she had been locking her husband out of their family home and having extra-marital affairs.

“The couple had frequent quarrels where the husband always accused the woman of cheating on him and denying him conjugal rights,” said a neighbour who sought anonymity.

The chief reported that the couple was involved in a loud argument before the fire broke out.

The man is said to have accused his wife of humiliating him “just because she made more money” than him.

“When their arguments became louder, the man’s wife sent their three children aged 17, 12 and eight out of the family home, before her husband locked the house,” reported Mr Cheruiyot.

The administrator added: “The three children were outside when the man locked the house and set it ablaze with the couple inside.”

“The wife always ordered the husband to go back to his first wife whenever they quarrelled,” said a neighbour.

The Standard caught up with the said first wife (55) at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital who said that she had six children with the hospitalised man.

She, however, said she is not privy to what could have led her husband to kill his second wife.

She described her husband as a “quiet, humble, churchgoer who never lost his temper easily”.

“He is a sober man who does not take alcohol. He must have been pushed beyond his limits,” she said.