Police are holding a Murang'a woman and her two children for allegedly killing her husband, torching the body and trying to secretly bury it.
Edith Nyaguthii, 47, from Matunda village in lower Gatanga subcounty and her two children allegedly attacked James Maina with a panga and axe on Saturday at 5am.
Residents said she then set the body ablaze after dousing it with paraffin.
They said they cornered Nyaguthii and her two children while they were digging a grave to bury the body under the cover of darkness.
Police recovered a hammer, axe and a panga believed to have been the murder weapons. They were hidden in a latrine.
Residents claim Maina came home drunk and a domestic quarrel ensued.
Maina's brother James Ndirangu said they were attracted by smoke emanating from the home, and they went to find out what was burning.
“On arrival, we found the body of my brother wrapped in beddings burning outside the house. The wife and her two daughters were digging a grave,” Ndirangu said.
Residents said the family had been having domestic quarrels for a long time.
“In this village, we have never witnessed such an incident and it is a pity to kill someone you have been living with in the same house,” resident John Maina said.
Neighbour Naomi Kimani said the couple had separated for a long time, but they reunited two years ago.
“Nyaguthii separated with Maina some years back and got married to another man at Ndonyo Sabuk. She returned to her first marriage two years later. On Friday, the two went together to the chief’s camp and were registered for Huduma Namba,” Kimani said.
Police officers, led by Gatanga Criminal Investigations Officer James Mwangi, arrested Nyaguthii and her two children.
Mwangi said residents directed police officers to where the weapons used to kill the father of four were hidden.
“We have to carry out more investigations on the incident. The wife and two of her children have been arrested as police embark on more investigations to unearth the truth,” Mwangi said.
The body was taken to Thika Level 5 Hospital mortuary.
