Ex-Wife of Suspect Arrested for Killing 7 Reveals Troubled Marriage

Tabitha Wanja
Domes violence victim Tabitha Wanja (left) and coffins of seven family members who were killed by her former husband.
Citizen Digital

A woman in Embu on Monday, January 17, lifted a lid on her troubled marriage that culminated in the death of seven family members at Ngimari village in Runyenjes, Embu County. 

Tabitha Wanja told Journalists of a troubled marriage with her former husband, who is also the main suspect in an arson attack that killed a father, mother, two daughters, a son, and two grandchildren. 

"My husband and I met in Nairobi and got married but later separated after seven years. He came to my parents' home thereafter and picked the children who he took to Kakamega (with him)," she recounted.

Wanja later traveled to Kakamega to join her former husband but they divorced less than thirteen months later and remarried.

"I later heard that children were sick and I went to see them. I stayed with them for one year then divorced him because he regularly beat me up.

Coffins
Coffins of Embu arson attack that killed seven family members on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Citizen Digital

 "When he heard that I re-married, he threatened to come to Embu and kill me plus my mother," she noted. 

Tabitha's former husband never relented in his constant pursuit of vengeance against her and her relatives. 

"On October 1, 2022, he told us that he was traveling to Embu to kill me and my mother in an arson attack. We were restless the whole night only to wake up the following morning and discover that our neighbours were burnt to death," she narrated. 

She recorded a statement at Embu Police Station reporting her former husband as the main suspect in the murder of the seven family members. The former husband was later arrested on January 8, 2023, in Navakholo, Kakamega County.

Embu East Sub-County Police Commander Jane Waruinge confirmed that Wanja's former husband was transferred and duly charged in a court of law. 

Wanja, however, noted that her life and that of her children stuck in Kakamega was in danger and appealed to the state to help her get back her children.

She claimed that her former husband and his new wife threatened to harm the children.

"My children are in danger of being killed by the woman since my children's father was arrested by police officers," she lamented.

Remains of the house razed down by fire killing seven family members on Saturday, October 2, 2022.jpg
Remains of the house razed down by fire, killing seven family members on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Muchangi Karemba
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