Lovers’ tragic fight adds to worrying rise in domestic violence

A fight turned tragic after a man was allegedly stabbed three times by his girlfriend in Umoja Estate, Nairobi leading to his death on Sunday night.

Neighbours of Edward Okello, an aeronautical engineer at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) who at the time of his death lived in Umoja Two, said that he had for the last few months been fighting a lot with his girlfriend Vigilance Shighi.

Mr Okello was 33 while his girlfriend was 29 and a regular visitor in the apartment that the engineer lived in. She would sometimes spend days in the apartment before leaving so neighbours knew her.

DISAGREEMENTS

And while their cohabiting agreement seemed to work well, neighbours say their disagreements had been increasing in the weeks leading to Mr Okello’s murder.

According to government statistics, there has been a spike of domestic violence by at least 45 per cent since the first coronavirus case was announced in mid-March.

“We want to remind everyone that the law has not been suspended and that it will catch up with those who mete violence on others during this period,” warned Health Cabinet Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangagi two weeks ago.

For Mr Okello who is now part of the statistics, domestic violence in his relationship has ended tragically.

His neighbours say they heard shouting which transited to piercing screams from his house at about 8pm on Sunday night.

“The girl rushed out shouting for assistance and when we arrived in the house, Mr Okello was on the floor in the sitting room with blood coming from his chest,” said a neighbour.

“We then rushed him to Mama Lucy Hospital,” the neighbour said.

Meanwhile, a police officer who is a bodyguard to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati, who responded to the scuffle, made a call to the police control tower informing them of the incident.

PRONOUNCED DEAD

Officers from Buru Buru Police Station immediately rushed to the scene.

However, by the time they arrived at about 9pm, Mr Okello had been pronounced dead. He had three stab wounds on the chest and abdomen inflicted with a knife.

The police who initially had on their hands an assault case were now dealing with a murder.

Neighbours who helped the police find Mr Okello’s house also identified Ms Shighi.

She was immediately put under arrest and taken to the Buru Buru Police Station as homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) took over the investigations.

A blood stained knife was also picked from the scene.

In a video, suspected to have been shot at the Buru Buru Police Station showing a conversation between the suspect and officers, shows Ms Shighi, claiming she did not know what happened.

“He was holding me, and he was beating me up, in my defence, I took a cup and threw at him and I do not know what happened. I just saw him on the floor,” Ms Shighi is seen telling police officers.

“I cook for him every day. If you have to jail me for fighting, then I am okay with that because I do not know what happened, he was on the floor,” she says before an officer cuts her short, “Saying the truth is a good thing. Even though you are drunk, you better say we were in the house, we were eating then this happened and I picked a knife.”

DEFENSIVE

At this point, Ms Shighi who is still defensive maintains she does not know what happened, “You are putting words in my mouth, I have not said anything.”

Yesterday at the Makadara Law Court, the key suspect in Mr Okello’s murder still maintained she was innocent. Ms Shighi told Senior Resident Magistrate Lewis Gatheru that, “I only threw a cup at him”.

In an affidavit filed in court, the lead detective in the murder Ms Veronicah Waithera said Ms Shighi had a quarrel with the Mr Okello prompting her to stab him with a kitchen knife.

The knife suspected to be the murder weapon is with the police.

Detective Waithera applied to hold the suspect for 21 days to record statements of all possible witnesses, take Ms Shighi for mental assessment while awaiting postmortem.

Additionally she said the murder weapon is yet to be taken to the government chemist and that phones belonging to Mr Okello and Ms Shighi were yet to be taken for forensic examinations.

The magistrate allowed the police to continue holding the suspect for 14 days at the Buruburu Police Station.