Man kills step daughter, dies by suicide in Kitengela

Police in Kitengela, Kajiado county are investigating an incident where a man allegedly stabbed her stepdaughter to death and died by suicide on Sunday night.

Police said the 16-year-old girl had gone to the man's house to pick up a phone when he turned against her.

The 59-year-old man stabbed the secondary school girl with a kitchen knife several times.

The man used the same knife to stab himself to death.

A neighbour who heard the commotion called the police from the nearby Kitengela Police Station.

The officers found two bodies lying in a pool of blood inside the bedroom in the two-roomed rented house.

The officers also found a suicide note, two sharp knives and a hammer.

Police said the girl had severe stab wounds on the back, abdomen, and left breast, and several head injuries suspected to have been caused by a sharp object.

The body also had several visible defensive marks.

Before he committed the murder, the man wrote a suicide note accusing his wife of infidelity.

A police OB report seen by The Standard indicated that the 59-year-old man identified as Chikophe Nyanje Chikokopha had stabbed wounds in the lower abdomen and visible intestine.

The deceased's wife, Eveline Kerubo, said they separated a few months ago.

In an interview with The Standard, Kerubo said her husband had been arrested several times and released for various criminal offences.

She suspects that the man killed her daughter to punish her for walking out of the marriage.

"It is true we have been living together for a while. I decided to leave him to avoid violence, however, my daughter used to visit him regularly. I can't understand why he has decided to take the life of my daughter," said Kerubo.

Isinya police boss Patrick Manyasi appealed to parents to amicably solve domestic wrangles.

Police removed the bodies to the Shalom Hospital Mortuary awaiting postmortem.