Why businessman Ediot shot, killed lawyer wife before 28th birthday

      The Suspect Erastus Ediot Odhiambo who allegedly killed his wife, Lawyer Linda Irungu Wanjiku in Buru-Buru over domestic quarrel. Police sought he be remanded until December 23rd to complete investigations before taking plea. He appeared before the Makadara Acting Principal Magistrate Eunice Nyutu on 15th December. PHOTO: PKEMOI NG’ENOH

The sudden and cruel death of curvaceous lawyer Linda Wanjiku Irungu hit her friends like a thunderbolt.

Shiko, as she was popularly known by close associates, was partying with her mostly unmarried, trendy and middle-aged female pals at a restaurant in Kilimani at around 8pm on that fateful night before heading to another popular joint in the same neighbourhood for more drinks.

In between tots and chasers, Shiko constantly texted someone presumed to be her hubby, Erastus Ediot Odhiambo, as she posed for photos that her friends posted on social media and tagged her.

The deceased lawyer who will be laid to rest on December 20 at her parents’ home in Kambara village (Gakoe), Murang’a then left for home in the wee hours of the morning.

Meanwhile, her husband (Ediot), a young shrewd businessman, had been watching over his popular bar, Latitude Lounge, at Buruburu Shopping Centre, a walking distance to their matrimonial home and just a stone-throw away from the residence of Livembe, his first wife’s residence.

A tipsy Ediot, who is known for his love of beer went home, but Linda was still partying ahead of her twenty-eighth birthday bash that was due on December 16.

Commonly known as ‘Idiot’ by close friends (a corruption of his middle name, Ediot), Odhiambo is moneyed and flamboyant.

A close friend of Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko, he loves the finer things in life and state-of-the-art vehicles. For the sake of his security and business interests, Ediot, who is also an employee of a power supply company, reportedly successfully applied for a firearm, for which he had a licence.

War of words

Ediot allegedly arrived home 30 minutes before his wife and left shortly after on realising that the missus was not yet home. A war of words ensued when he finally returned and confronted Shiko.

Apparently, he was angered by her lateness since she was a mother of a one-year-old baby, whom she had left under the care of her younger sister, Diana Irungu.

“I was in the house when he arrived around 3am before leaving in a huff. When he returned, my sister was driving in too,” recalls Diana.

The verbal exchange between the couple reportedly escalated and turned physical when Ediot pulled Shiko’s braids.

“After a brief quarrel, he told her to pack and leave for our parents’ home in Buruburu Phase II. But when she was driving out, he followed her to the gate, grabbed her by hair pulled her out,” Diana narrates.

Ediot was allegedly too drunk and Shiko, with the help of her sister, overpowered him and he fell down. Shiko and Diana then allegedly took off in different directions. Soon after however, the sound of a gunshot rent the air.

“He cocked the gun and pulled the trigger, and shot my sister in the back of the head at close range, just few metres outside the main entrance,” Diana explained.

Diana says her sister fell to the ground exclaiming, “Umenishoot!” but Ediot allegedly started kicking her while waving his gun and preventing anyone from rushing her hospital.

Diana, a Kenyatta University student, upon realising things were getting out of hand, alerted her father and brother who also live in Buruburu about two kilometres away. But they arrived one minute too late.

Shiko was unconscious

“When my parents arrived, Shiko was unconscious and bleeding,” says Diana, adding that when they tried to lift her into her car, Ediot prevented them from rushing her to hospital. “He got into his car and knocked Shiko’s car from the rear but luckily his neighbours prevailed on him and he eventually allowed us take to take her to the nearby Jamaa Hospital where she was pronounced dead,” she adds.

A postmortem exam confirmed that the deceased had a bullet wound on the upper right side of her back. According to the deceased’s brother Renson Karanja, Ediot left the scene immediately.

“He was spotted near the hospital at around 8am,” says Karanja. This was the time family members were leaving the hospital after Shiko had been pronounced dead. “We alerted the police,” he adds.

One moment of madness, and his wife was gone - by his own hand. The fatal attraction that blossomed into a love affair akin to Shakespearean Romeo and Julliet play ended tragically.

Ediot later turned himself in. He had been in relationship with Shiko for more than a year. The union was blessed with a son. Friends say he was planning to pay dowry and marry her.