Families escape burns, death in attempted arson

Sixteen families narrowly escaped death after a spurned woman allegedly petrol-bombed an apartment building in Gesonso center on the outskirts of Kisii Town Saturday.

According to tenants who spoke to Citizen Digital, the suspect – a middle-aged woman who works in Nairobi – is an estranged wife to a civil servant in Kisii County government.

On Friday night, she reportedly arrived at the apartment, where she stays with her husband and two children, but the man would not let her in.

The scorned woman decided to check herself into a nearby accommodation facility, only to return to their house at dawn.

The suspect then broke a window pane and hurled a highly-flammable liquid, which had been stored in plastic bottles, into the master bedroom, instantly setting the house on fire.

As fire spread to other rooms in the building, the woman’s estranged husband managed to locate a spare key to the main door and escaped, before raising alarm.

Residents and neighbours managed to stop the fire from razing down the entire building.

The couple’s children were away at their maternal grandmother’s place in Kilgoris, Transmara County at the time of the incident.

The landlord, Nyambane Bwatuti, said the suspect had approached him over her husband’s refusal to grant her entry into the house.

Mr Bwatuti said the couple has been having protracted wrangles for some time now.

Police at Gesonso have arrested the suspect only identified as Rachael.