Estranged husband allegedly sets wife on fire over domestic squabbles

Salome Kanini a victim of domestic violence, lying at Kenyatta National Hospital on 6 January 2018, after she was burnt by her husband at their home in Kiserian. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

A 29-year-old woman is fighting for her life in hospital after allegedly being set on fire by her estranged husband.

Salome Kanini was rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital following the incident on Thursday evening in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County.

A once beautiful and bubbly Kanini is now confined in bed with over 60 per cent burns at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 

Her younger brother, John Njenga, is nursing deep cut wounds on his left hand following a struggle to save her.

Njenga said her sister’s estranged husband called her with instructions to go fetch their son’s school uniform since he was joining nursery.

The two, Njenga explained, separated last September, and his sister and her two children had returned to live with her parents in Kiserian.

They had been married for five years.

Salome asked her brother to accompany her that evening to the man's house.

The man, who the police have identified as Stanley Nduati, a matatu driver, reportedly pulled her inside the house and locked out the brother.

According to Njenga, he heard a commotion and attempted to force his way into the house.

“I felt sharp pain on my hand then I realised he was stabbing me with a kitchen knife,” said Njenga.

A neighbour offered a sledge hammer that was used to break the window but by that time her whole body had caught fire.

The man is said to have jumped off the balcony from his house on the first floor and fled on foot.

While the family admits that the two have been having issues in their marriage, neighbours in the area claim there was nothing out of the ordinary.

The man was later arrested that night when he tried to sneak back into the house to collect some of his belongings. He is being held at Ongata Rongai Police Station.

Meanwhile, two people died and scores of others were injured when a bus they were travelling in was involved in an accident on Wundanyi-Mwatate road in Taita Taveta County.

One of those who died in the accident was a senior Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) official.

The police say the accident occurred at Josa Hill that is regarded as a black spot.

The bus was ferrying mourners who had attended the burial of former KPA official Jason Mlati Mwawona at Mgambonyi village in Taita sub-county on Saturday.

Mwatate OCPD Francis Mwangi said the driver of the bus lost control while descending the steep hill, killing the two and seriously injuring 28 other passengers.