Murderous family man ‘had been conned’ Sh500k before he committed heinous act
Scene of crime: a once vibrant home that secured a family of five – a husband, a wife and their children.
The time is 1 am, Tuesday. A bodaboda rider retiring home from his hustle notices that the home of Patrick Nderitu Karuru in Weithethia in Juja is on fire.
The rider calls the Malabar location chief, Muchiri Mwiruri, to inform him of the same, then goes from house to house to wake up neighbours asking them to help quell the fire.
When they arrived at the three bedroom house and managed to put off the fire, they came across the badly burnt body of Nderitu at the Verandah.
In haste, the residents made their way into the house, only to find the bodies of Nderitu’s children – an eight year old and twins aged three, on their beds.
VISIBLE INJURIES
The children – Joe Muraya, Jeff Mutua and Joy Wangui – were covered in blood, with visible injuries all over their bodies. They were partly burned.
On their parent’s bed, was the body of their mother, Rosemary Kaninia who, like her children, had body injuries.
Police suspect that Nderitu may have killed his family before committing suicide by burning himself.
Juja police commander Patricia Nasio said they are investigating the motive behind the bizarre incident.
“As for now, we cannot tell what made the man kill his wife and children, then himself. We haven’t recovered anything that could give us leads,” she said.
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But Nderitu’s sister-in-law Lydiah Mueke, is of the opinion that his in-law did what he did out of frustration having been conned Sh500,000 a week earlier.
“They had promised him some contract which required him to deposit Sh500,000 at the bank, an amount that they had promised to double to raise a million shillings before they could guarantee him the contract to supply building materials. He had been borrowing money from friends to raise the amount needed and he managed to and sent it, only to later realise that he had been conned,” she said.
But a police officer who did not want to be named suspected marital issues, saying losing money to cons was hardly enough to make him kill even his children.
“After the loss he could have easily picked up the pieces. There must have been a deeper marital issue that overwhelmed him and forced him to kill his family,” said the officer.