A jilted mason has gone into hiding after killing his lover and setting her body ablaze in the Kibera slum.
Nicholas Omollo, 39, is said to have taken off after beating up and setting his girlfriend Roselyne Amayo,35, on fire at their Laini Saba house last Wednesday.
Omollo, said to be a married father of three, is reported to have killed Amayo after accusing her of having a clandestine relationship with her former husband.
The attack has left neighbours in shock.
Amayo, a hairdresser, died yesterday morning at the Kenyatta National Hospital, where she had been admitted.
Nairobi CID boss Ireri Kamwende yesterday said police are hunting for the fugitive lover, who is believed to have escaped to his rural home in Western.
Neighbours at Laini Saba, where Amayo lived for two months, recalled the events leading to the death of the mother of one son.
Paul Simiyu, whose house is two metres from Amayo’s, said Omollo, who was a familiar face in the plot, arrived at Amayo’s house at 1.30pm but she was not there.
He said the man started by packing and moving household goods such as a TV set and bedding to his house, which is in the same neighbourhood.
Amayo arrived at the house shortly after 1.30pm, then an argument about why Omollo had taken away the items started.
The verbal exchange between the two was followed by a physical confrontation, but none of the neighbours could enter the house as the pair locked themselves in.
Simiyu said neighbours saw fire consume Amayo’s house and quickly spread to the neighbourhood.
They finally accessed the house after Omollo opened the door to flee from the raging fire.
Neighbours found the woman lying on the floor as the flames consumed her body.
They rescued her and took her to KNH, where she was admitted at the intensive care unit.
The fire destroyed a dozen houses in the densely populated neighbourhood.
Another neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity said the two quarrelled frequently and in one instance, Amayo asked Omollo not to come to her house again.