• In December Titi had warned Wambui and her mother of his intent to kill.
Image: Ndichu Wainaina
An estranged lover went berserk on Tuesday evening and killed his lover in her mother’s house using their kitchen knife.
Allan Titi, 25, killed Consulata Wambui, 21, at their home in Kambi Ndoro, Kinangop following love gone sour.
Nyandarua county police commander Gideon Ngumi on Wednesday confirmed the incident.
He said the victim’s 17-year-old brother reported the incident on Tuesday evening. He said police rushed to the scene and rescued the suspect from irate members of the public and also recovered the knife which was used to commit the crime.
On December last year, Titi had allegedly warned Wambui and her mother Gladwell Nyambura on his intent to kill but the warning was ignored.
“On December she told me that he was threatening her with death warning that she will never marry another man when he is still alive. I told her to ignore him and not respond to his calls or text messages. On 25th December, he sent me a text message telling me that he will prove to me how much he loved my daughter," Nyambura told the Star on the phone on Wednesday evening.
The reality dawned on her when she watched her daughter succumb to several stab wounds in the head and chest, and the doctors pronounced her dead at Weru Health Centre in Engineer.
Nyambura said she was going home from the school where she teaches when on the way she was stopped by a vehicle. She entered only to find her daughter wrapped in clothes and crying in pain, and bleeding.
“My mind immediately told me Allan has visited my home," she said
They took her to Weru Health Centre where she died while undergoing treatment.
Commander Ngumi said the body was moved to Engineer Sub County Hospital mortuary awaiting a postmortem, while Titi is locked at Engineer police station. He said the motive of the killing was not yet established but investigations have been launched.
The victim’s brother said he was in the shamba cutting fodder when he heard the distress call from his sister. He rushed home only to find the culprit outside their house holding the bloodied kitchen knife. Neighbours who responded to the cry arrested him but police were in time to save him before he was lynched.
Titi is said to have travelled from Kakamega to execute his mission in Kinangop in the home he had visited a number of times before. Nyambura said she did not know when the relationship between her daughter and the killer began, but said it had been abusive.
She said she became aware of Titi in June 2018 when she noticed Wambui was pregnant, and she told her that Titi from Kakamega was the father. By then Wambui was in her fourth year pursuing a teaching course at Mt Kenya University.
She delivered her baby in August 2018, but this did not improve their relationship which became even more abusive. In December 2018, Titi allegedly beat her badly and Nyambura sent her bus fare to travel home from Embakasi where the couple lived.
Titi followed them to Kinangop, where Nyambura told him to bring his parents for the matter to be discussed. She later changed her mind having felt it would not change anything.
Titi went back to Kinangop after Christmas and reconciled with Wambui, and together they went back to Nairobi after Wambui convinced her mother he had begged to be forgiven promising he will reform.
“I noticed they were in good terms and decided to let them be,” she said.
Back in Embakasi, Titi confessed to Wambui he was prepared to kill three people, without revealing who had she declined to go with him.
Wambui was studying under the school-based curriculum and Nyambura would take care of the baby when she went to the university. She requested Titi to allow her to go for teaching practice at Kinangop as it was difficult to get schools in Nairobi and it was also costly in terms of transport yet the couple had no money. She went back to Nairobi ahead of her graduation in December.
When Nyambura went for her daughter’s graduation on December 6, 2019, she noticed she was weak and unhappy. Her grandchild was also very sickly, yet the couple was not seeking medication.
“He had a fever and occasionally suffered convulsions. My daughter told me the father said he had no money, and she had spent what she was paid after working as an enumerator during August census on rent and food,” she said.
She said Wambui told her Titi had also quit the job where he worked with a security firm under unclear circumstances. Further, she said, her daughter told her they had no food and also faced ejection from the house where they lived owing to rent arrears.
She left her Sh200 for food and also gave her bus fare to travel home to Kinangop to stay as they sought medication for the baby. Wambui and her baby travelled home on Monday, December 9, 2019.
A day later, Titi followed them after the house where they lived in Embakasi was locked due to rent arrears.
“He arrived late in the evening and my daughter told him I said he was no longer welcome to my home. He shouted he was not prepared to leave even if we called the police," she said
Nyambura told Wambui to take Titi to sleep in her son’s house so they could talk the following day. But in the morning Titi declined to talk saying he was leaving. Later in the evening, Nyambura discovered he was still around and decided to call the local village elder to advise Titi not to invade her home.
But before she could go for the elder, Titi said he had been sent fare to travel home in Kakamega, and wanted to go with Wambui and the baby. Wambui declined the invitation saying it was over between them.
An argument ensued over the baby with Titi demanding that he must be recognised as the father with his name appearing in the birth certificate which was yet to be acquired. Nyambura intervened telling them to stop the argument.
“I told them the baby is mine since Titi’s mother has never cared for him for a single day," she said.
Nyambura said she told her ‘son-in-law’ she was not willing to see the relationship continue unless Wambui willingly went back to him, “in which case I will not assist them financially.”
Titi left alone for Kakamega, only to call and send the warning messages later. On Tuesday evening, he visited Kinangop and attacked Wambui, who had found a position as Kiswahili and CRE teacher at St Michael Secondary School.
Image: Ndichu Wainaina