Two people were killed on Tuesday night in Kanjala, Butula Sub-County in an incident suspected to have been fuelled by love gone sour.
Boniface Okwero, 64, was hit on the head and neck with a wooden plank by an attacker whose identity is yet to be known.
He was walking home together with a relative identified as Henrica Mukhule aged 50 years from Bukati Sub-Location.
Butula OCPD Stephen Wambua said that Mr Okwero succumbed to head and neck injuries at Khunyangu Sub-County Hospital.
“After roughing up the man, the attacker turned on the woman, hit her and left her with serious injuries. Member of the public then confronted the attacker as he tried to escape and lynched him. Mr Okwero died at Khunyangu Hospital as he was being attended to,” he said.
The bodies of the two are lying at Busia County Referral hospital mortuary.
SOMBRE MOOD
A sombre mood engulfed Mr Okwero’s home as relatives and friends tried to come to terms with his death.
Mr Okwero’s wife, Roslyn Okwero, said on the fateful day, her husband left their home at around 9am to visit a friend and then returned two hours later to feed his cattle.
“He left to see a relative but at 2pm a neighbour called me behind our house. On the scene I saw my husband lying helplessly on the ground with another woman near him. He was bleeding profusely on the head and neck. I didn’t see the attacker,” she said.
Chief Awino Wanga said it is suspected that the attacker was a casual labourer from Navakholo in Kakamega County and was in a love relationship with Ms Mukhule.
“The attacker thought that Ms Henrica, whom he had a love relationship with, was cheating on him with another man.
Mr Wambua said police have launched investigations to unravel the cause of the murder.