Man kills wife, sends SMS to in-laws, then hangs self in Siaya

A man killed his wife and later committed suicide by hanging in Uloma C Village in Ukwala, Siaya county on Wednesday morning.

Enock Omollo Apiyo, 48, sent an SMS to alert his in-laws that he had massacred their daughter, Dorothy Omanya, 43.

Simur East Sub Location Assistant Chief Henry Oduor said he received a phone call at 5 am that one of his residents had sent an SMS to the cousins of his wife, who hails from Kochia, that he had killed their daughter.

"Together with the village elder, we rushed to their home and found them all dead. The wife's lifeless body was covered with a piece of cloth on the bed and the man's body was hanging by the bedside," Oduor explained.

Oduor also said the murderer left a suicide note with the same content as that of the SMS.

"The note had a title referring to his in-laws, Jo-Kochia (The People of Kochia).

It then stated; 'I have killed your daughter'," Oduor said. The couple is said to have had wrangles over childlessness and it is reported that the man had been blaming the wife for barrenness.

"They have had commotions here and there over their inability to sire children and we highly suspect that this must have led to their deaths. We have also learnt that for the past three months, the man had married another girl and has been staying with her within the location," the assistant chief added.

Oduor now pleads with people to find better ways of solving their problems instead of killing one another and taking their own lives.