A retired primary school teacher has been arrested after his wife died during Valentine’s Day in Chepkumia Village in Nandi County.
According to reports, the cause of death of Rose Jerono Ng’asura shocked villagers with a post-mortem report and other investigations revealing that she was stabbed on the night of February 14 while in her sleep.
Homicide detectives and criminal investigation officers have been for the past two weeks carrying out investigations, putting pieces of evidence together to find the culprit who committed the heinous act among the family members.
It was revealed that Jerono’s husband Mr Zacharia Ng’asura and one of her daughters were present at the family home when she was allegedly attacked around midnight.
The police revealed that they found evidence of the couple’s history of prolonged domestic conflicts.
A Police preliminary report from the police revealed that Jerono was stabbed with a sharp object on the left side of her chest.
“The post-mortem report showed it to be possibly a knife and we are now pursuing more evidence,” said Nandi County Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Douglas Chikanda.
The retired primary school teacher said to have put his injured wife in his car saying that he was taking her for emergency medical attention at the nearest health centre.
A relative told the police that Mr Ng’asura went past Kapkangani county health centre and then stopped at Kapsasur market for almost one hour as Jerono bled and experienced agonizing pain.
“It raised questions about why he did not take her to the hospital that was barely three kilometres from home, and instead took about three hours to arrive at a private facility in Kapsabet town,” said the relative.
The relative also said that Jerono was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The retired headteacher was arrested and is undergoing investigation with him as the main suspect.
“They want to know why he allegedly asked his wife to move out of their bedroom and sleep in the kitchen in the night she was stabbed to death,” said Mr Chikanda.
Security officials implored Chemukumia Village members to provide any information that could help detectives to establish the circumstances that led to the murder of the woman.
Nandi County Assembly Deputy Speaker Wilson Sang revealed that Jerono’s burial had been postponed because of the tense situation in the village with angry villagers eager to punish the culprit.
Sang urged residents not to take the law into their hands and allow the DCI to complete their investigations.
“We want security officials to be given adequate time to conduct investigations into the killing and those involved in the incident to face the law regardless of their positions in society,” said the Deputy Speaker.