Man kills wife, self over dowry payment row

A Man on Thursday morning killed his wife before he was lynched by an angry mob in Kipkaren village, Uasin Gishu County.

According to neighbours, the man disagreed with his wife on selling their piece of land to pay dowry demanded by the wife’s family.

The family of the lady is said to have asked for five cows which, according to the neighbours, were more based on his capability. They say that this provoked him to sell the land in order to obtain money to offset the dowry.

However, the wife disagreed with the man’s decision and left for her parents’ home for a week. When she came back, the husband allegedly stabbed her to death.

Shortly after the incident, angry residents of Kipkaren village attacked the man who also stabbed him to death saying that they wanted him to undergo what his wife had also undergone; pain.

Lugari County OCPD Bernard Macharia said the couple had separated for a week because of misunderstandings, quarrels and fighting over dowry payment which had not been solved.

Police officers found the bodies of the two bleeding profusely on the floor of their muddy house and took them to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary and have since launched investigations.

This comes barely three months after a similar incident took place in the same Kipkaren area where a man killed his pregnant wife before killing self after he was allegedly quarreled by the wife’s family for taking long to clear up the dowry.

The middle-aged man, identified as Maurice Mutamanu, murdered Renny Ongachi by stabbing her with a knife three times in the stomach.

Boniface Sifuna, brother to the deceased, said they were woken up by his brother’s friend who informed them about the incident.

It was reported that the two had not lasted a year in their marriage.