Fear of divorce may have sparked murder

• Preacher’s kin held in London hospital over death of his child and stabbing of wife

Paul Otieno Deya may have stabbed his four-year-old son to death on Monday after his wife Jacqueline Achieng Otieno asked for a divorce, it emerged on Thursday.

Sources privy to Deya family matters told the Nation that Paul could have killed his son for fear of losing him to his wife in a custody battle.

“Mrs Otieno wanted a separation from her husband... she wanted custody of the children,” said a close family member who sought anonymity.

Paul, 31, is suspected of killing his son, Wilson Deya and stabbing his 28-year-old wife at their home in Southwark, South East London on Monday evening.

On Thursday, it emerged that at the time of the son’s death, Paul’s wife was not in the house. She returned in the evening to find her son dead in a pool of blood.

Paul is alleged to have slashed his wife’s throat before trying to cut his own.

The couple’s 17-month-old girl, Valerie, was unharmed in the horrific attack. She is now in the custody of Southwark Social Services. Paul was arrested at his hospital bed on suspicion of murder.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said Paul remains under police guard in South London hospital after undergoing surgery for stab wounds to his neck and body.

He is an adopted son of Bishop Gilbert Deya, a London-based Kenyan controversial preacher who is wanted back home on child trafficking charges.

Pronounced dead

It also emerged on Thursday that the Deya family in London is unaware of the location of Paul, who has been placed on 24 hours police guard in an undisclosed south London hospital.

Sources who went to console the Deyas at their Peckham home in South London told the Nation that the family had no idea which hospital their son was being treated.

“Deya and his family are devastated by the tragedy. They have not seen Paul since the incident happened on Monday evening,” said a family member.

Police officers arrived at the Lynton Estate flat at 6.15pm on Monday evening to find the body of the four-year-old boy. Neighbours had dialled 999 after hearing a furious row at about 6pm on Monday.

Wilson Otieno, 4, was pronounced dead at the family’s first-floor flat. A postmortem examination carried out on Thursday at Great Ormond Street hospital in London confirmed that the boy had died of a knife wound to the neck.