Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) based in Kericho on Monday night captured a murder suspect who had been on the run for more than a week after setting his wife on fire.
50-year-old Robert Kipkorir Tanui was boarding a matatu along the Kericho-Kisumu road when detectives who had been trailing him arrested him.
Tanui allegedly set ablaze his 34-year-old wife Emmy Chepkoech Mitei following a domestic quarrel on October 4.
“On the fateful night at Seanin village of Konoin in Bomet County, the 50-year-old suspect attacked the victim who has been a deputy headteacher of a local primary school and whom he had separated with for some time forcing her back to her father’s house.
“Armed with a container of petrol and a matchbox, the suspect marched into the victim’s house, showered the same on her before setting her ablaze and disappeared after locking the door from the outside,” the DCI said.
Neighbours who responded to her distress calls managed to put out the fire before rushing her to Litein Mission Hospital. She was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of Tenwek Hospital where a doctor’s report indicated she suffered 97 per cent burns on her body.
The victim succumbed to her injuries on October 7, 2020 at the same facility.
The deceased’s sister, Susan Mitei, told reporters that Emmy had “been having issues in her marriage for a long time. Her husband has over the years been violent and irresponsible, she always complained that he did not help in taking care of their seven children.”
Konoin Sub- County Police Commander Alex Shinkondi said the suspect will be charged with murder before Bomet High Court on Wednesday.
