Teresia Wanjiru, the woman who was killed by her husband at Lereshwa, Kipipiri, on Monday night had endured an abusive marriage for nearly ten years.
Peter Ng'ang'a, 36, alias Patrick Mugo allegedly killed Wanjiru, 33, then cut her body into pieces. He was lynched the following day by villagers.
Family and friends say that apart from physical abuse, Ng'ang'a was a womaniser who would bring women home and force Wanjiru to spend the night in the kitchen.
Wanjiru lived between her parents’ and her family home and the troubles with her husband had been mediated at Mihatari police station many times.
“Any time she ran away, her husband would bring another wife within three days,” a neighbour said
Wanjiru would return and chase the new woman away saying she could not surrender a stone house she had invested Sh90,000 in to another woman, the neighbour said.
Ng’ang’ a, who some neighbours described as a man who kept to himself was also a suspected criminal.
The cattle broker was alleged to be part of a gang that stole livestock in Nyandarua.
Wanjiru once reported him to the police after a neighbour’s cows were stolen and slaughtered in the bush.
On Monday evening, police in Kipipiri said that the Wanjiru's head was missing from the discovered parts.
But when the Star visited Mbombo village in Lereshwa location on Wednesday, family members and neighbours who joined the search team said other organs were also missing.
Kipipiri subcounty police commander Ireri Mwaniki told the Star on the phone that a team of police officers and locals were still searching for the missing parts.
Wanjiru’s mother, Joyce Wangui, said her grandchildren aged 13, 12, and nine narrated to her the events leading to their mother's death.
The children, she said, told her Wanjiru had gone to the hospital but instructed them to go for a family cow which was grazing at their paternal grandmother's place, about two kilometres away as dusk approached.
When they came back their father who was near the kitchen shepherded them to the main house and padlocked it from the outside.
He then told them their mother had stolen his money and went to her parents’ home at Kirima village in Miharati.
He proceeded to cook ugali which he served the children with tea and ordered them to sleep.
As they ate he would keep walking in and out of the house. The children could hear him converse with some people outside the house.
The children peeped through the curtain and saw Ng’ang’ a dragging his unconscious wife from the kitchen, past the store and into the maize field.
“The girl said she spotted a man who looked like her uncle, Maina,” she said.
Yesterday morning, Kipipiri police boss told the Star on the phone that Maina had been arrested and was being questioned.
He is a boda boda operator and locals suspect he is the rider Ng’ang’ a referred to when he was cornered but decline to reveal his identity.
Wangui said in the morning when Ng’ang’ a left home, the two older children went to the chief's office where they reported the matter.
Ng’ang’a returned home shortly and asked his son, aged nine where his siblings were. The son told him they had gone to report him for killing their mother.
Ng’ang’ a escaped from home and was later traced at Karunga in Gilgil, Nakuru county where he was killed by an irate mob.
Wanjiru’s mother told the Star that there have been other allegations of criminal activity by Ng'ang'a.
“It was alleged he had stolen some cattle and also murdered a man. But I may not be authoritative about it,” she said.
(edited by O. Owino)
