Police apprehend woman for ‘plot to kill spouse’

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of plotting the murder of her estranged husband in Nairobi’s wealthy neighbourhood of Karen.

This comes barely three days after another woman was arrested in Buruburu, also accused of an alleged conspiracy to kill her estranged husband.

In the Karen case, police said they had taken for questioning the woman in connection with a plot to hire killers to eliminate her husband.

She was arrested together with a property dealer said to have been her neighbour when she and her husband lived in Lamu.

The Karen Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Keneth Njoroge on Sunday said the man reported the alleged conspiracy a fortnight ago.

An investigation collected sufficient evidence to press charges, including recorded conversations, written notes and photos said to have been given to the hit men.

According to the investigation report, the alleged conspirators met at a car wash in Umoja on May 2, and later, on May 9, in Karen to plan the murder.

Police said at the time of the arrest, they were confident they had gathered sufficient evidence linking the woman to a conspiracy with the property dealer.

The 38-year-old is a businesswoman and had been married to the man for about 15 years before separating about a year ago. They have two sons.

Police claim that the woman and the property dealer paid Sh300,000 to the hit men as a deposit and also facilitated the killers’ trip to her husband’s Karen and Naro Moru homes.

A few days after the money was paid, police claimed, the two started becoming impatient and the property dealer told the hit men that he wanted the money refunded as he “planned to hire the Gaza squad”.

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Police said in the course of planning the murder, the hit men learnt that the woman and her accomplice were allegedly only interested in her husband’s wealth, and decided to tell him of the plan.

It is not clear why they decided to do that and how they stood to benefit from betraying the conspiracy to the alleged victim. It is also not clear if any charges will be preferred against the alleged hit men.

The man immediately fled to Juba, where he has businesses as police launched investigations.

Investigations by Nation revealed that a former senior Mungiki member was also involved in the negotiations to scuttle the alleged plot and also provided some evidence to the police.

Two of the alleged hit men have also recorded statements with the police.

The husband, in his statement, said he knew the property dealer as a former neighbour in Lamu and accuses him of defrauding him money by pretending he would sell him land, before he disappeared.

“The next I heard of him was when I learnt of his plans with Ms.... (his wife) to have me killed,” he said.

“The plan was hatched so that they could acquire my wealth. My wife would by default acquire all my wealth while my fraud case against Mr ... (property dealer) would be closed,” he added.

Police said they would charge the two today.