[Photo: Courtesy]

Knifing cases resulting to murder are mostly family-related, with rage that build over time.

James Mbugua, a counselling psychologist at Mount Kenya University, observes that women resort to killing after unearthing infidelity and in most cases “this is a kind of rage that has been building up for long, thus it is triggered by small issues like finding out the man is a ‘community husband’, yet they have been wasted,” he explained, adding that the violent reaction is distilled anger from all the sacrifice invested and they can’t figure the betrayal out.  

Mbugua says temporary insanity takes over and when the cases go to trial, they are ruled as manslaughter and not murder cases.

Without fingering either gender, Cannon Rev Peter Karanja, the secretary-general of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, blames the breakdown of social structures.

To restore the situation, support, tighter family relationships and frequent communication are ideal, he says.

Stabbing husbands to death, says Cannon Karanja, is “sparked by long-term problems, but there is a way to solve them amicable without ending one’s life because it takes two to tango.

On the other hand, the Church ought to provide counselling on matters like marriage because it’s a challenging institution.”

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