Man accused of killing wife, four children, remanded for 40 days

Paul Murage Njuki. [Timothy Kariuki, Standard]

Paul Murage, the man suspected to have killed his wife and four children in Gichugu, Kirinyaga East Sub-county, has been remanded for a further 40 days at Kerugoya GK Prison.

Murage had been brought before Kerugoya High Court Judge, Justice Richard Mwongo, where court prosecutor Vincent Mamba requested that he be remanded until January 24, 2022.

The prosecutor told the court that the time period will allow the court to provide the suspect with legal representation before he takes plea.

Murage, a 35-year-old recluse, allegedly wiped out his family of five before attempting to kill himself on Sunday, December 12.

The bodies of his wife Millicent Muthoni, daughters Nelly Wawira, 13, and Sheromit Wambui Muthoni, 5, and sons Gifton Bundi Muthoni, 7, and Clifton Njuki Murage, 1, were found lying on their beds with multiple cuts on the head hours after he walked to Kianyaga Police Station and allegedly confessed to the murder.

A slasher suspected to be one of the murder weapons was retrieved at their three-roomed brick-walled shack where two beds bore the horrors of the rainy night as they bore multiple axe blows and splintered wood spattered with brain matter and blood.

According to area chief Murimi Ndambiri, the suspected bhang peddler and abuser, spent the night in the house where the cold bodies of his spouse and children lay.

The house is just 40 metres from his parents' home.

Opening up about Muthoni’s abusive relationship, Muthoni's elder brother and family spokesperson, Patrick Njiru, said she feared for her life and that of her children.

Njiru narrated that when Muthoni visited her parents' home with her thirteen-year-old daughter that fateful Sunday, she disclosed to their eldest brother Mugo that Murage had threatened her with death on Saturday night.

She, however, went back to her home at around 5pm with a plan to run away without Murage noticing but her escape plan was cut short.

When questioned, Murage blamed the devil for misleading him and claimed that a witch doctor at Rukanga gave him paraphernalia to administer to their bed so that Muthoni would never leave.