Kitengela man kills girlfriend by stabbing her 5 times, turns knife on himself

It remains unclear why the man allegedly killed his lover and thereafter turned the knife on himself. [File, Standard]

A 24-year-old man from Kitengela in Kajiado County allegedly killed his 23-year-old girlfriend by stabbing her five times and thereafter died by suicide after turning the knife on himself.

Bodies of the couple were taken to Shalom Community Hospital morgue in Athi River.

Police said the incident occurred in the woman's one-bedroom house on Wednesday night, December 21.

Kitengela DCI officer Benson Mutiya told The Standard that Paul Kanaika, the caretaker of the building in which the woman lived, filed a report of the incident on Thursday morning, December 22.

"The caretaker said he hadn't seen the woman leaving her house as had been the norm," said Mutiya.

"He said when he peeped into the woman's house, located on the fifth floor of the building, he saw two bodies - that of the tenant and her boyfriend," added the DCI officer.

According to the caretaker, the man's body was in the living room, while that of his girlfriend was in the bathroom.

Preliminary investigations indicated that the woman had been stabbed five times, while the man had a single stab wound in the chest.

"We recovered a kitchen knife suspected to have been used in the apparent murder-suicide," Kitengela DCI officer Benson Mutiya said.

The man identified only as Kibet was the boyfriend of the deceased identified only as Chepng'eno, preliminary investigations indicated.

"The man regularly visited his girlfriend," one of the neighbours said.

Police said further investigations into the deaths of the youthful couple are ongoing.