Two church leaders, a man and a married woman of a church based in Malava Constituency, Kakamega County narrowly escaped the wrath of angry residents after they were ambushed for allegedly making 'special prayers'.
The 35-year-old man identified as Tokoyi Jaluo is a secretary-general in the church.
According to residents, the man is said to have gone to the woman's house at night as her husband lives in Eldoret.
The residents claimed by the time the two were found, they had already conducted 'two prayer sessions'.
According to the woman's brother-in-law, their dog barked consistently at around 10 pm which prompted him to wake up and find out what was happening.
He claimed when he got out of his house he found the dog barking at the window of his brother's house and when he listened carefully he discovered that there were two people in the house. He knocked on the door but the occupants refused to open it.
"I knocked on the bedroom window first and asked my sister-in-law to open but she refused to open the door, which prompted me to raise an alarm that brought the attention of the neighbours and locals who came very fast in the company of the area assistant chief," he said.
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Angry residents
Furthermore, he adds that even after angry residents stormed the homestead demanding her in-law to open the door in case she had been attacked she declined, making the locals look for a way of opening the door.
However, in the process, the police from Kabras Police Station arrived before residents could open the door by force dispersing them stating that they have been called for help and that the owner of the house has been attacked.
"We were shocked to see police telling us a man has called them requesting rescue from robberies and after I explained to the police with the help of the area assistant chief that this was my brother's house, and he was not around," he said.
"Police understood and they opened the door and we were shocked to find that my brother's wife and someone whom we know very well and one of our locals in the house. He told us he had come to pray for her and had already conducted two prayers and it was so wrong to disrupt them in the middle of prayers."
The angry residents wanted to teach the man a lesson but they were all rescued by police and taken to Kabras Police Station.
He further claimed that she had taken a portion of their land and donated it to the church to manufacture bricks for the construction of a church building.
The man of the house was called ahead of the elders meeting to chart the way forward.
Exchange wives
However, during the meeting chaired by elders, they resolved the two men should exchange wives in order to avoid future disasters like killings over love.
The elders also said since the man loves the wife of the other man, he should take her and bring a cow and goat and surrender his wife to the other man.
Tokoyi's family had by Tuesday delivered a cow and a goat ready for the exchange but the other man was reluctant to release his wife to join the other family.
"We are just urging my brother to follow what our elders have said and just release his wife and take the wife of the accused man because already she has been a disgrace to our family," said the brother-in-law.
Kakamega County Police Commander Joseph Kigen confirmed the incident urging residents not to take action in their own hands and instead work with the police.
"We are urging locals to be calm and law-abiding citizens and cooperate with police whenever there is a dispute but we are also urging our society to uphold ethics and good morals for the posterity of our children's good behaviours," said Kigen.