Mystery surrounds the motive behind an incident in which a 20-year-old man slaughtered his grandmother in Mji wa Kale area, Mombasa county.
The body of Shariffa Ali Salim, 80 was found sprawled in a pool of blood in her house on Sunday night moments after the incident.
The family said the suspect identified as Abdulaziz All Swaleh had had an argument with his grandmother in the house before he picked a kitchen knife and used it to slit her neck.
Those present claimed the suspect wanted money from the elderly woman and when she declined to offer the demands, the man went wild and attacked her.
A house help who was in the house tried to save her in vain.
Police said they were called to the scene after the suspect was arrested by members of the public as he tried to escape.
The team recovered the killer's weapon from the scene before moving the body to the mortuary pending postmortem and further probe.
Coast police boss Titus Karuri said they are interrogating the man for more information on the murder.
“This seems to be murder and experts are investigating it. We want to understand the motive behind it,” he said.
Locals have complained of increased knife attacks in the area by some youths and want action to tame the trend.
