Why murder plots among city spouses are on the rise – Police
Infidelity and family properties are some of the main reasons why spouses murder or conspire to kill each other, police say.
Physical and emotional abuse, though another factor, has however lead to divorce, and not murder, in most cases.
According to police records, there have been increases in such cases in the recent past and police warn that even some of the murder cases could have been planned by the spouses.
In one of the robbery with violence cases being investigated by the police, the wife of a man who was shot and seriously injured during a robbery incident along Thika road is a key suspect.
Investigations revealed that the gunmen had communicated with the victim’s wife three days earlier.
Records indicated that they had never communicated before. She is however yet to be arrested.
HITMEN
Police have devised several ways of investigating such cases with some of them posing as hitmen.
In another case that is before court in Nairobi, a man who was tipped by a supposed hitman that the wife was plotting his murder secretly recorded her.
With the help of the police, they also organised for the informer to meet the woman at a place fitted with CCTV cameras.
The detectives said that based on the conversation, the wife met the threshold for conspiracy to commit murder.
Insurance investigators have also documented cases where some people murder or attempt to murder their wives, husbands or children to get the life insurance proceeds.
So as not to be suspected, some spouses have conspired with the staff at the local joints frequented by their partners to poison their food or drink.
There are cases where some suspects have killed on provocation, for self-defence or accidentally.