A botched murder-suicide incident has left residents of Kautine village, Igembe North in Meru County shaken.
Three members of a family are recuperating at different hospitals in Meru after a man attacked his teen wife and their baby with a knife. The man then attempted to take his own life during the incident which occurred on Thursday last week.
The suspect stabbed the 17-year-old girl eleven times and cut their one-year-old baby on the face, Nation reports.
A suicide recovered at the scene showed that the assailant wanted to kill mother and child before committing suicide.
Joseph Kaumbuthu, the father of the girl, said trouble started when they announced plans to take their daughter back to school.
“He impregnated my daughter when she was in class eight but we forgave him. We allowed our daughter to take care of the child and plans were underway for her to go back to school. When she told him that she was going back to school, he became violent,” said Kaumbuthu.
The girl’s mother, Ms Beatrice Kaumbuthu, said the young couple had cohabited for some time before the dispute.
“They had a dispute after she informed the man that she is going back to school. She came back home and informed us that he had threatened to stab her if she went back to school,” she said.
The girl’s parents collected a suicide note, pesticide, weapon of attack and bloodied clothes. But nearly a week after the attack, police are yet to open an investigation.
Kaumbuthu told Nation that police officers said they would visit the scene after the suspect had recuperated.
Igembe North Police Commander Apollo Busolo said complainants reported the matter at Maua and Mutuati police stations but never returned to give leads.
In the suicide note, the man claimed that the girl does not respect him, insults him and she is always at her parents home.
