Shock as Kericho man kills wife over flirty text message from lover

• The suspect killed his wife using a knife after finding a flirty message in her phone
• After committing the crime, he hid the body under the bed and fled

Whoever opined that love is temporary insanity of sorts may as well have had one jealous man from Kedowa trading centre in Kipkelion East Constituency, Kericho County in mind.

Insecure and furious that his wife had received a naughty text message from a man suspected to have been flirting with her, the man stuck a kitchen knife in her neck, killing her.

To cover his tracks, the unidentified man neatly wrapped her dead body is bedclothes, stuffed her under the bed and fled to his supposed ancestral home in Kisii County.

Neighbours only came to learn of the brutal murder two weeks later, after a stench began wafting from the house, which had been under key and lock.

Londiani Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Joseph Odipo, said the bizarre incident came to the fore after conscience of murder suspect drove him to Kisii police station where he confessed to have killed his wife before fleeing the scene.

The woman, a barmaid by the name Kobia Maina, worked at one of the pubs in the trading centre.

“After the suspect surrendered himself to Kisii police station, our colleagues there forwarded the information to us. My officers went to Kedowa where with the help of members of the public  broke the steel door of the single-roomed  house  and found the body  of 26-year-old Pauline Kobia Maina alias Njeri, hidden under the bed,” said Odipo.

The OCPD said the suspect had delayed the decomposition process of the deceased body by laying it on a layer of sawdust and charcoal and poured cold water on it.

The police moved the body of the deceased Molo district hospital mortuary. “The suspect had also prevented the odour from escaping by sealing the nostrils, mouth and other body openings with cotton wool,” said Odipo.

Odipo said the suspect would be brought to Kericho from Kisii and will be arraigned in court once the police complete their investigations into the murder mystery.

“We are still investigating the circumstances that led to the murder of the woman and how she was killed since the decomposition process of her body had begun and only post-mortem can give us the clues,” said Odipo, adding that so far the suspect cited a text message as the source of the domestic tiff.

Kedowa/Kimugul Member of County Assembly (MCA) Denis Kirui, called for the strengthening of the Nyumba Kumi peace initiative in the area.

“There is an influx of strangers to Kedowa shopping centre. That is why we appeal to plot owners in the area to at least demand to see the identification documents of their tenants. They should also as ask for some other basic information and therefore avoid leasing their houses to criminal elements,” he said.