Police have been allowed 10 more days to detain the suspect in the murder of Beryl Ouma at Kahawa Sukari on Thursday.
Kiambu Law Courts granted the days following a request by the investigating officer to conclude their investigations before presenting Lyko Osuri suspected of killing his wife during a domestic squabble.
The 28-year-old was killed in their house in Kahawa Sukari after hours of beating before her body was taken to Neema Uhai hospital in the area.
“She was screaming so loudly and painfully asking her husband to stop beating her, it was late at night,” said a neighbour.
“We banged the door in an attempt to open it but it was locked from inside. When one of us asked what was happening, the lady who was screaming responded saying they’ll talk”.
The neighbour said the screaming continued for a short time before it suddenly stopped.
“We assumed that they had stopped fighting and so we went on with our business,” the neighbour said.
Beryl’s father Douglas Ouma said her daughter sent him three messages asking him to call her back at around 4am, but when he called back after some time, the calls went unanswered.
“I didn’t see the texts immediately, but when I called back, she did not pick. A few minutes later, her husband called to say they had an altercation,” Ouma said.
The husband informed his father-in law that he had just taken Beryl to a nearby hospital for treatment but records indicated that she was brought in dead.
Beryl’s brother Mark Ouma said police insisted on taking the body to City Mortuary, but the family blocked them fearing it was a plot to cover up the murder.
“We will transfer the body to a funeral home of our choice and not a mortuary where the many interested parties can easily interfere with the autopsy,” Mark said.
Beryl, a clinical officer, and Lyko wedded in 2017. They have been living together since the latter returned from Qatar, where he had been working. She had had two miscarriages, with the last one about two weeks ago.
The marriage seemed on the rocks; the family said the two had many wrangles some which they failed to solve.
“Her husband is a very violent man and even last year in December, we had a family meeting to solve it. Clearly, he never stopped,” Mark said.
Preliminary reports at the hospital where Beryl was taken indicated she died after being hit with a blunt object, but a conclusive postmortem is yet to be carried out.
Her body has been taken to Chiromo Mortuary, where a post-mortem will be conducted today to ascertain the cause of her death.
Ruiru police boss James Ng’etich confirmed the incident, saying the accused regretted having assaulted his wife, and said he did not know it would lead to her death.
Ng’etich said Lyko claimed to have used a belt to beat his wife.
“You fail to understand how beating using a belt can kill a human being, but we are still investigating the issue,” he said.
Ng’etich blamed the neighbours for failing to raise the alarm, even after the beating went on for a long time.
The killing comes just days after a man who murdered his wife for allegedly aving an affair was killed by mob in Kwale county.