•Muiva is being held at Machakos police station, where he is being interrogated about his girlfriend’s murder.
•The suspect will be arraigned on Monday while Mutinda will be buried at her parents’ home in Mamba on April 6.
Image: Courtesy
The suspect in the murder of a 35-year-old woman in Machakos is said to have unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide three times before he was arrested.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives attached to Machakos police station Harrison Mutisya Muiva the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of Faith Mutinda, was arrested in lodging in Mlolongo town on Friday.
Mutinda until her demise was working at Kenya Railways as an Assistant Audit Manager.
Machakos sub-county criminal investigations officer Simon Waithaka said the suspect, 45, attempted to commit suicide in lodging in Emali, Masinga Dam and Mlolongo in Makueni and Machakos counties, respectively.
“According to preliminary findings, he abandoned his vehicle at Emali and booked a lodging where he attempted to commit suicide by taking poison. After that, he left for Masinga Dam where he also tried to drown himself,” Waithaka told reporters at his office in Machakos on Friday.
Waithaka said the suspect later travelled to Nairobi to visit his sister who turned him away.
“He finally booked a lodging at Mlolongo where for the third time he attempted to commit suicide before police were informed. They took him to Kitengela Level 4 hospital where he was treated and discharged,” Waithaka said.
He said the suspect was later briefly detained at Mlolongo police station where he was picked up by detectives from Machakos.
Muiva is being held at Machakos police station, where he is being interrogated about his girlfriend’s murder.
He is suspected to have killed his girlfriend in cold blood by hacking her to death with a machete on suspicion of infidelity.
It's said that both Muiva and Mutinda were divorced from their previous marriages and were living together as husband and wife. Muiva had, however, not paid a dowry to formalise their union.
Independent sources also revealed that Mutinda had a child from the first marriage.
According to the detectives, on the fateful day, the suspect leapt from their matrimonial bed at night and reached for the machete which he used to attack the girlfriend as their four-year-old daughter slept in an adjacent room.
He then fled the murder scene at Kalama in Machakos County using the deceased’s vehicle, which he later dumped at Emali in Makueni County. The car was recovered on March 30.
Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) detectives joined their Machakos counterparts in pursuing the suspect.
Muiva was arrested exactly a week after Mutinda's body was found.
Police arrested him two days after the deceased's car was recovered in Makueni County.
Athi River sub-county criminal investigations officer John Kanda said the suspect was arrested after he unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide.
Kanda said police recovered sachets of poison inside the room.
Mutinda's body was discovered by the suspect's parents lying on their bed in a pool of blood.
The murder weapon was also recovered by the sleuths.
An autopsy conducted on the body revealed that the woman died because of severe bleeding following multiple deep cut wounds inflicted on her body.
The body is lying at a Machakos mortuary.
The suspect will be arraigned on Monday, April 4 while Mutinda will be buried at her parents’ home in Mamba village, Kithimani in Yatta sub-county on April 6.