Murder suspect arrested, admitted in hospital after ingesting poison

Ngugi Wanyoike, 40 who was arrested on the night of November 4, 2018. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard]

A suspect linked to the murder of a 34 year old woman in Arimi Village, Elburgon has been arrested.

Ngugi Wanyoike, 40 allegedly killed his estranged wife, Teresiah Wanjiku by stabbing her on the neck after breaking into her house at around 4am last Monday.

According to Gilgil OCPD Emmanuel Opuru, the suspect who has been on the run since the murder of the mother of four was arrested on Wednesday and handed over to the police in Molo.

“We received information concerning the suspect who we managed to track down to Gitare village in Gilgil. He has been handed over to our counterparts in Molo for further action,” said Opuru.

Molo OCPD Bernard Kioko confirmed the handover of the suspect who is currently admitted at Gilgil Sub County hospital after he developed signs of having ingested poison before the arrest.

“It appears that the suspect had attempted to commit suicide prior to his arrest. He developed health complications after he was handed over to us. We rushed him to a hospital in Gilgil where he is being treated. He will be arraigned in court once he is discharged,” said Kioko.

Elburgon Assistant County Commissioner Naftali Korir said that Wanjiku and Ngugi had been living together for over fifteen years before they separated last year over what is termed as unfaithfulness by one of the parties.

“The couple has been having disagreements in the last three years before they finally separated towards the end of last year. Wanjiku went back to her mother’s home where she has been living with their four children,” said Korir.

During the dawn attack, Mr Korir said that the deceased was in the company of their ten-year-old daughter who saw and identified the suspect who he claimed commited the offence. Her three other children aged 13, 15 and 17 years were away for the holiday.

“Wanjiku and her ten-year-old daughter screamed for help when the suspect broke into their house. The suspect stabbed his wife and took off when the locals came to her rescue. Her daughter managed to identify the murderer as her father,” said Korir.

The police who arrived minutes later found Wanjiku lying in a pool of blood and rushed her to Elburgon Sub County hospital.

She was however pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital and her body taken to the hospital mortuary.

The suspect immediately exiled himself from the village in what is believed to be after he knew that his daughter had identified him and the police had launched a manhunt for him.