Killings: Homes no longer a safe space
By Zadock Angira, May 22, 2025Our homes are generally considered havens: A place of safety and tranquillity, with warm, loving and intimate family members.
However, some of the recent incidents of family violence, from police reports, paint a different picture; that the home is not always a safe place.
Apart from murder, physical violence, incest, and rape, latest reports indicate that children have been targeting their parents, committing the ultimate form of family violence.
In the last week, there has been an increase in cases where parents have been attacked by their children, with at least three others killed, according to police records.
Police and the local administration, however, warn that most of the attacks are under-reported since the family is considered a sacred institution.
The latest incident was on Tuesday evening in Makueni County, where a 31-year-old man strangled his father to death before tying a rope around his neck and dragging the body to a nearby bush where he hanged it to appear like a suicide in Thongoni Location in Kibwezi.
Tree cutting
John Lyunga Kailu had differed with his father, Peter Kailu Nzango, 76, over the cutting of a tree within the compound, according to the Mangelete Sub-Location Assistant Chief.
“He knocked him down and strangled him before dragging the body to a nearby bush and hanged it from a low-hanging tree branch to purport suicide,” police said.
Detectives from Mtito Andei visited the scene and later arrested the suspect.
“The body had visible bruises on both legs. The body was transferred to Thongoni Level Four hospital mortuary for preservation awaiting post-mortem,” the DCI said.
The previous day in Ihururu in Tetu, Nyeri county, police also arrested a 31-year-old man suspected to have murdered his father, Joseph Waweru Ngatunyi, aged 70.
Cecilia Ngatunyi reported to the police that she had found the body of her husband lying within the compound, with blood oozing from the mouth and nose.
The deceased’s head was also swollen, an indication that he was hit by a blunt object.
Police visited the scene and arrested the son, who was wearing blood-stained clothes, was arrested.
“The son, Martin Waweu Ngatunyi, was arrested, and a blood-stained wooden stick believed to be the murder weapon was recovered,” police said. The body was referred to the Nyeri Referral Hospital.
The Tetu killing took place just two days after another man killed his 62-year-old father in Orwaki village in Nyakenimo Sub-Location in Nyamira County before setting his body ablaze.
Frankline Stima Ouru, 20, accused his father of seducing his wife. Ouru arrived at his father’s house at 8 pm, accompanied by his wife, Dorcas Mogaka, and picked a quarrel with his father.
He claimed his father had always wanted to take his wife, but she had turned down his sexual advances
During the confrontation, a fight ensued where the son rushed to his house and came back with an axe, which he used to hit the father on the head, killing him on the spot.
He then burnt the body. The suspect was arrested while his wife, Dorcas Mogaka, who is an accomplice, escaped, police said.
According to Hellen Kemuma, the deceased’s wife, the son had come to their house bitterly complaining that his wife had reported to him that his father was making sexual advances towards her.
“I was surprised when my son came crying that his father, who lived with a disability, wanted to take his wife,” Kemuma told the People Daily.
“My daughter and I watched helplessly as my son, together with his wife, attacked my husband,” she tearfully narrated.
“I made frantic efforts to call the area chief Joshua Aima and the OCS at Nyamusi police station, but by the time help arrived, Mzee was already dead,” she added.
Chilling murders
Parricide -the killing of one’s parent, spouse, child, or other close relative – has been on the rise, according to police.
Police reports also indicate over 30 people have been killed across the country in the last week.
On Saturday, police arrested a man suspected to have killed his friend and dismembered his body in Chemamul village, Ololunga in Narok South.
According to the deceased’s mother, her son, Philemon Kirui Mutai, 27, went missing last week.
Their search extended to his friend arrested the suspect, Shadrack Chelule’s house, where they found some blood stains on the door frame, window, and walls. They became suspicious and upon further search, they recovered a blood-stained panga and a wooden stick.
They then escorted the suspect to the Nkoben police post.
Detectives from Narok South Directorate of Criminal Investigations visited the scene and conducted a further search.
The lower part of the victim’s body was discovered a stashed in a nylon sack.