Bread dealer fined for snatching man’s wife

By CHARLES NGENO

A man was rudely awoken last Sunday by over 50 angry youths who accused him of having snatched another man’s wife.

The man who is a bread distributor in Mulot Sunset, Bomet County, was shocked to hear several people knocking on his door very early in the morning shouting that they were going to teach him a lesson.

Realising the mob was serious, he called the police saying thugs were breaking into his house.

The police led by Mulot Administration Police Chief Inspector Francis Juma responded quickly, but were surprised by the story they got from the blood-baying youths.

The youths claimed that the man had engaged in a steamy relationship with another man’s wife for long. The woman who sells vegetables outside the distributor’s shop developed a habit of seeking for change from him time and again.

It is reported that the bread distributor started sweet-talking the young woman whose husband was said to be a maize flour hawker in the Mara region.

The two were often seen talking in hushed tones. The woman also began ‘helping’ the business man in house chores like sweeping and mopping his house.

Neighbours became suspicious when the two began sharing meals. At times, they would even lock the room for several minutes before resuming their businesses.

This habit infuriated neighbours who accused the two of taking advantage of her husband’s long absence. They resolved to lay a trap and the 40th day came on a Saturday afternoon.

After lunch, the two locked the room. The estate women decided to tiptoe to the bedroom window and indeed confirmed what they had always suspected; the bread distributor was indeed her ‘brother in need’.

The bread distributor outsmarted the women though by allowing his lover to leave using the front door. As the women rushed towards the front door, he slipped out through the back door and disappeared.

When the woman was questioned, she conceded to the ‘crime’ and said the man had been giving her Sh50 every day. Angered by the confession, the women mobilised youths to besiege the man’s house the next morning.

The police arrested the man but turned him over to a local committee to arbitrate on the matter.

The committee led by vice chairman Paul Limo resolved in a six hour meeting that the man be fined Sh15,000 for invading another man’s boma and banned the woman from engaging in the vegetable business.