Dressed in a white, checked shirt, a brown pair of trousers and a pair of slippers, 33-year-old James Kifo’s demeanour betrays the grave accusations levelled against him that could make him one of  the worst husbands on earth—or to some, a “husband from hell”.

Kifo is accused of sexually torturing his wife and sealing her genitals with super glue in presence of their two-year-old son last Saturday, allegedly to tame her cheating in one of the most bizarre and cruel form of domestic violence.

 Yesterday, Kifo, whose name means death, was arrested in Kitui county where he was said to have been consulting a witchdoctor to alleviate his troubles. He had been on the run since the incident.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested him at the homestead of a 52-year-old witchdoctor, James Murogi, who was administering rituals on Kifo. 

“We have been trailing him closely and we found him at the witchdoctor premises while rituals were being performed on him,” a police source privy to the investigations told People Daily.

Kifo is reported to have cheated his way out of the Nairobi metropolitan area, which is sealed off to contain the spread of coronavirus.

He travelled from Utawala estate, where he claims to have been working as a night guard, to Meru. His evil mission? To visit harm, death on his wife of four years.

After the incident, which took place near Kathita River at Marimanti village in Meru where he had dragged her, the man is reported to have fled to Tseikuru in Kitui to seek the help of a witchdoctor to evade arrest.

This is even as it emerged the suspect may have travelled to Meru with the intention of killing the wife after he sent a message to her parents warning them that they would never see her again, according to police sources.

Her parents, according to the area police commander Kiprop Rutto, sent her Sh2,000 so that she could escape but she declined.

The irate middle-aged man is said to have sexually abused her before applying a mixture of pepper, garlic, onions and salt to her genitals.

The suspect and his lover, then 17 years old, met in 2016 at Marimanti market where she lived with her sister who was working at the famous Kwetu Bar and Restaurant and locals are yet to come into terms with his gory act.

The two married after courting for eight months and later moved to Nairobi’s Utawala Estate although, according to the victim’s mother, Mary Waringa, the two were in constant fights.

“My daughter has been calling me countless times complaining of assaults by her husband but when I travel to Nairobi to pick and rescue her she normally goes into hiding,” she told People Daily yesterday. 

The victim had returned to Meru six months ago after their differences escalated.

 Those who know Kifo, who is awaiting arraignment, described him as a man with a criminal record, saying he studied at an approved school after he is said to have stolen a teacher’s bicycle at Nkomdi Primary School.

He later attended Tharaka Boys, Turima High School and later at Kiriria Day School and the change of schools, according to those who know him, was linked to indiscipline. 

Rutto, who termed Kifo’s action as inhuman and satanic, also revealed that the suspect was on their list for various criminal offences. 

Kifo has been accusing his wife, who has since been discharged from hospital, of cheating.

According to family and police sources, after he arrived in Meru on the material day, he reportedly begun hunting for the man who allegedly had an affair with his wife but in vain.

“When he arrived on Saturday around 8pm, he was in anger. He told me that he must deal with the man who has been sleeping with his wife although he did not disclose the name to me.

I think due to dusk-to-dawn curfew, he did not manage to get the man, “ said a relative who sought anonymity.

Police said after Kifo failed to identify his wife’s alleged lover, he went back to the house and convinced her to accompany him so that he could escape arrest and forced quarantine for sneaking out of Nairobi.

At the riverbank, the woman was ordered to undress and compelled to name her lover and was threatened with murder if she declined to comply.

“She was forced to take off all her clothes in presence of their son who was also used by his father to hold the torch light.

He applied glue in her eyes, mouth and ears, sodomised her repeatedly as the child watched, “said Rutto.