Why are Mt Kenya husbands dying like flies?

The chilling murder of Rwanda-based engineer George Mwangi for which his wife and Kiambu politician Gladys Chania has been arrested as a prime suspect has once again brought to the fore a string domestic violence related murders in Mt Kenya region. While the deaths are isolated, they have an eerie similarity. Most times, the victims are reported missing only to be found dead in their homes or their bodies buried in shallow graves or dumped in septic tanks, farms, forests and rivers.

Mwangi's murder is no different. He was reported missing, only for his lifeless body to found in dumped in a forest a day later in murder that detectives suspect revolved around a love triangle."After conducting a thorough forensic documentation of the house today, detectives based at the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau, Homicide Department, Forensic Crime Scene and Photographic units have concluded that he was murdered in his bedroom at the top floor," DCI revealed in a statement.

Kiru Boys High School Principal Solomon Mwangi

This is one of many murder cases involving husband and wife to emerge from Central Kenya. In 2021, the High Court in Nakuru found Jane Muthoni, the widow of Kiru Boys High School Principal Solomon Mwangi, guilty of his murder.

Mwangi had been reported missing on November 6, 2016. His mutilated body was found dumped in a coffee plantation in Juja, Kiambu County, eight days later and his widow, Muthoni, and her co-accused, Ng'ang'a, arrested in connection with the killing. The Prosecution submitted that Muthoni, the former principal of Icaciri Secondary School in Kiambu, hired criminals, including Ng'ang'a, to kill Mwangi. Muthoni and Ng'ang'a were alleged to have committed the offence on diverse dates between November 6 and November 11, 2016 at Karakuta Coffee Estate in Juja sub-county, Kiambu County.

These two murders however pale in comparison to what occurred three years ago when a dark secret that lay hidden for close to three weeks in a corner of a well-manicured address in Nairobi's Spring Valley estate sprung to the fore when the search for Dutch billionaire Tob Cohen ended in tears.Cohen, who had been missing for 43 days, was found dead, hands and feet bound, in a septic tank in his home. His widow Sarah Wairimu and five other suspects are currently on trial for his murder.

Samuel Mbogo, principal Gatunguru secondary school

In another incident, on May 12 2019, 57-year-old Samuel Mbogo a principal at Gatunguru secondary school in Murang'a was found dead in the backseat of his car near his home in Gakurwe village, Kiharu Constituency. His wife, Alice Wacera, 51, and a man were later arrested in connection with the killing. The couple's eight-year-old daughter reportedly witnessed the attack. Wacera and Mbogo were married in the mid-1990s and had five children. The investigating officer told court that Wacera was found trying to clean blood stains on the floor, walls and the roof of her house with an old blanket.

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According to a witness accounts by the minor, two men broke into the house at around midnight on Saturday and attacked Mbogo with axes and pangas. Initial reports indicated that the attackers had stuffed the victim's body on the back seat of the car, a Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, as they escaped the scene to discard it, but the vehicle skidded off the road and landed in a ditch about 200 metres from his home. Mbogo was last seen at Gakurwe shopping centre drinking with friends. The matter is still pending in court.And in 2019, Lydia Wakuthii was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband, Francis Mbogo Ndambiri.

According to police reports, Mbogo alias Kasarani had interests in road and building construction within the county and left behind a vast empire. Wakuthii was the trader's second wife. Wakuthii was later charged that on August 21, 2020, at South Ngariama Ranching Scheme, jointly with others not before the court, they murdered the businessman.And in yet another incident, Esther Muriu of Gitamaiyu, Village, killed her hubby and was chased away when she came to carry away items from the house even before the husband was buried.

Samuel Karanja's clothes were found inside a toiletMeanwhile, Lucy Nyaguthii was charged on February 12, 2019 for killing her husband Samuel Karanja. Police found blood stains on the bed used by the couple and also discovered Karanja's clothes inside a toilet. Nyaguthii insisted the murder did not take place in their compound but police found burned items in a suspected cover up bid.And on February 12, 2019 Ann Waithera was handed a death sentence by a Kiambu after she was found guilty of the murder of her hubby, David Macharia in 2004. She was accused of conspiring with her son Joseph Macharia, sister Ruth Wanjiru and three others to kill Macharia and dump his body 20km away from home.

Wife and children liked to murder of James MainaAnd in Matunda, Gatanga constituency in Murang'a county, residents woke up on April 19,2019 to sad news of the murder of one James Maina. Maina's wife and her two children were arraigned before a Muranga court for allegedly attacking Maina with a panga and an ax on that fateful evening. Police acting on a tipoff had found her trying to set the body ablaze after dousing it with paraffin. Police also said they cornered her and her two children while they were digging a grave to bury the body under the cover of darkness.Police recovered a hammer, ax and a panga believed to have been the murder weapons. They were hidden in a latrine. Residents claimed Maina came home drunk and a domestic quarrel ensued. The matter is still pending at the High Court in Muranga.

Kikuyu council of elders chairman Wachira Wakiago blamed greed on a section of women killing their husbands. He said that the murders being witnessed that have been hatched by women are discussed in chamas or other social gatherings.

"We know that even some of these women who are not killing husbands physically have been poisoning men by cooking porridge with pieces of steel wire and sand," he added.He said that women should know that 99 percent of men are polygamous in nature and that illicit affairs are a away of life.The elder cautioned women from eliminating their husbands when a marriage becomes sexless and loveless, and consider the interest of children who suffer when they lose both parents.