Crimes of passion: When an angry moment ends in lifetime of regret

With a blunt rod, he hit his wife on the head three times and snuffed out her life in a moment of anger. Seventeen years down the line, William Kipkalia Chemase, 49, wishes he had controlled his anger.

“Immediately, I regretted and rushed to the police station to report,” he recalls. “I was overcome with anger that exploded that very moment,” he adds.

DARK SECRETS

He was 32-years-old, in his prime, when he committed the crime in 2002. Days have gone by and months turned into years as he continues to see more and more men brought to jail for similar crimes.

His is a crime that continues to hog the national limelight — the killing of lovers. Some murders have been gruesome, sending shock waves across the country. Those jailed for the crime regret the moments of uncontrolled anger that earned them lengthy sentences.

The sequence of events in Chemase’s Elgeyo Marakwet District, now county, rekindle bitter memories of shattered dreams and, for a moment, the inmate appears lost in a sea of thought as he fights back tears.

He had learnt that his dearly beloved wife planned to elope with another man. Keen to find the truth, he kept everything to himself.

“I closely monitored her activities and I finally managed to unwrap the dark secrets that the mother of my three children harboured,” he says.

LIFE SENTENCE

At the time, he had managed to put up a permanent home near his in-laws and enjoyed a cordial relationship that did not go well with some of the relatives who were bitter about the closeness.

“They eventually managed to destroy my house and carted away all my property. Despite the setback, I decided to move on and asked my wife to support me in the endeavour,” he remembers.

The wife, according to Chemase, had made up her mind to move out and join her much older lover, to his chagrin, since he was keen on salvaging his troubled marriage.

“We had by then moved to my brother’s house. Unable to bear it anymore, I decided to confront my wife with foolproof evidence about her intentions. She became rude and abusive,” he explains. It was then that he picked the metal rod and killed his wife.

Born in a polygamous family to a policeman father, Chemase, who is now serving a life sentence after his death sentence was commuted, regrets his actions.

DRINKING JOINT

“I acted irrationally and I’m remorseful. Perhaps my modest education, coupled with rash decision, contributed to my current woes,” he said.

Chemase has decided to go back to school and is now in Form Three.  “I also became born again, which has helped me cope with life in prison,” he says.

Another inmate, Peter Kipruto Chesaina from Baringo County, is also serving a life sentence for killing his 19-year-old girlfriend.

“It was the year 2012 when I decided to take my girlfriend out for a treat. It was on Jamhuri Day and I wanted to give her the best treat,” he recalls.

The two love birds walked hand in hand, exchanging childhood banter along the village’s isolated and bushy roads that led to Athinai trading centre.

Their first stop was at a local drinking joint, where he decided to take a few drinks to while the day away as his lover enjoyed a soft drink.

LESSON LEARNT

I stepped out for a moment and, but upon return, I found her missing,” he says.

The prisoner did not suspect that anything was amiss and continued to enjoy his drink, until he learnt that his girlfriend had sneaked into a nearby house.

“On our way back home, I didn’t ask her where she went, but a bitter exchange of words ensued. I promptly reached for my rungu (club) and hit her on the head, killing her on the spot,” Chesaina recalls.

Despite fleeing from the scene, the police caught up with him.

He was taken to court and handed a life sentence, despite already having spent seven years in remand.

He, too, is penitent and seeks the forgiveness of his lover’s family members, saying he feels sorry for what he did. “My action was unwarranted. I’ve learnt my lesson,” he says.

HIDE BODY

For Douglas Thiong’o, it was an argument with his lover in 2003 at his workplace in Maralal after she stole Sh4,500 that led him to kill her by hitting her on the head.

“She stole my money and I later learnt she went on a drinking spree with her male friends.

“I was angry and when she came visiting, we quarrelled bitterly and I hit her on the head,” said the ageing inmate.

He went to sleep thereafter, without knowing that he had fatally wounded his lover. When he woke up, he was shocked to find her dead.

Efforts to conceal her death by disposing of her body were a temporary relief as he was later arrested and handed a life sentence.

There are 17 other similar cases of men who are behind bars at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison for crimes of passion, which, incidentally, have been on the rise.

PENT-UP ANGER

In the latest incident, a secondary schoolteacher was shot to death by her Administration Police lover.

According to a sociologist, Ms Njeri Kahumba, “crimes of passion are mostly fatal.”

Ms Kahumba who trained at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa is the Naivasha Sub-county deputy probation officer.

She says that such cases are on the rise around the country and in Naivasha.

Ms Kahumba attributes some of the cases to pent-up anger, substance abuse and mostly trust issues. “In some of the cases, we have one partner harbouring anger, which explodes, leading to death or permanent injuries,” she says.

COUNSELLING

The sociologist is advocating counselling sessions for people who exhibit uncontrolled anger to help stem the killings that are on the upsurge.

“We are experiencing deaths as a result of provocations among partners. At such moments, it’s crucial for one of the partners to back away,” she explains.

She, however, admits more individual studies need to be conducted to understand why people kill in the name of love.