The mother of the Kitui teenager who is being held by police in connection with the murder of his 18-year-old wife has said she did not approve the marriage of the youngsters.
Florence Mutinda told the press at her Kativini village home in Kitui Central she felt the girl, now deceased, was too young to get married.
“When Ciiru came to my homestead last December to live with my son, I realised she was too young for marriage. Besides she was still a student in Form 2,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
She said due to her parental concerns, she took the young girl back to her parents’ home in Kagio in Mwea, Embu county, that very December to continue with her education.
“I did not hear of Ciiru again until she showed up at my home two weeks ago. She said she had resolved to be married and I was left disillusioned. As I considered my next cause of action, the girl was killed,” Mutinda said.
“I was shocked when around 10:25pm on Tuesday night my son knocked at my house shouting that she had accidentally caused murder. I was so shocked. I asked my husband to go and check out what had happened."
Mutinda’s son John Mutinda, 19, was on Tuesday night arrested for allegedly slashing his newly married wife Ciiru Murimi to death with a panga.
Kitui Central subcounty police commander Sicily Gatiti said police investigators had obtained court orders allowing them to hold the suspect for 14 days to complete the probe into the murder.
Gatiti said when the police got report of the murder at around 1 am on Tuesday, they visited the scene and recovered a bloodied panga believed to be the murder weapon.
The body was taken to Kitui Hospital morgue.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
