Nairobi News

In yet another shocking incident of domestic violence, residents of Maguguni area in Thika East woke up to the stench of two decomposing bodies of young lovers who had been locked up in a single-room house.

The bodies of the deceased were identified as those of 23-year-old Timothy Ndirangu, a welder, and 27-year-old Grace Wanjiru, a teacher at the neighboring Wapa Primary School.

Ms Wanjiru, a university graduate, had just taught for one term at the school before the incident happened.

The bodies were taken to General Kago Funeral Home.

Preliminary investigations confirmed that Ndirangu killed Wanjiru on Saturday evening by strangling her before hanging himself using an electrical wire at Ms Wanjiru’s house.

“Initial investigations show there was a disagreement between the two lovers before the man killed the woman. Probably having found himself in a fix and without a place to go, he chose to hang himself,” Thika East police commander Mr Julius Kyumbule told Nation.

Mr Ndirangu’s parents said that the two lovers had been having issues for the past one week.

“On Monday, we received information that our son had been locked up at Ngoliba Police Station over some misunderstanding he had with a woman and we went to check on him,” said James Musyoka Musembi, Ndirang’u’s father.

LEGITIMATE WIFE

Mr Musyoka recalled that when he arrived at the station, asked his son what the matter was but his son instead asked him who had informed him of his detention.

“I told him what I knew and he asked me not to worry, that the person who had him locked up was coming to set him free,”added Musyoka.

True to his words, Ndirangu was set free and in the presence of his parents and the lovers agreed to end their relationship.

“That was the first time I was seeing this other woman. I had only known his legitimate wife who stays with him at home in my compound with their two children,” said Ndirang’u’s father.

After that incident at Ngoliba police station, Ndirangu went home to his wife on Monday evening.

“While at home, the woman kept calling my son telling him that she would look for another man with whom to bear children with because he had rejected her. Every time she called, my son would give his wife the phone and ask her to tell her to stop destroying their marriage,” recalled Ndirangi’us mother Ms Priscillah Njeri.

It was during this time that Wanjiru reportedly moved out of the house they had been living with Ndirangu and rented a single room near her place of work and where their bodies were found.

The family said that Ndirangu stayed with them till Saturday evening when he left his father’s compound but he never returned home.

“On Sunday, his wife became anxious and we begun looking for him… then we woke up to the sad news of his death this morning.

LIFELESS BODY

Wanjiru’s body was found lying in her broken bed while that of Ndirangu was found life lifeless body in a kneeling position and hanging onto a wire tied to the roof of the room.

The broken bed and disarranged items in the house were an indicator that a scuffle between the two had ensued before Ndirangu strangled Wanjiru.

“I do not know the woman he was with well and I do not wish to know her better because she is the one that made my son bring this upon himself. Why did she pursue him knowing too well that he had a family at home?” Ndirangu’s mother posed.

Ms Njeri wished that his son would have just taken his life and left the other woman alone.

“He has left me with this huge burden of having to deal with the consequences of his actions,” she lamented.

According to the family, the two lovers had been having an affair for about three to four months.

“It is during that period that he started having issues with his wife at home. At some point, she had even left the home with their two children because Ndirangu was no longer providing for the family. However, I had managed to convince her to come back.

“I felt indebted to her because my son brought her in as a wife as very young girl, I remember she was in class six. Through the years, I played the role of a mother to her. I knew she had no source of income and was wholly dependent on my son who was now absconding his duties, I could not just let her go, I had to chip in by providing for my son’s family,” said Ndirangu’s mother amidst tears.