A 39-year-old man from Karai village in Ndaragwa, Nyandarua county, on Thursday stabbed his wife and committed suicide.
Boniface Mwangi stormed the house where his estranged wife, Beatrice Wangui, lived demanding that she signs a sale agreement to enable him sell their parcel of land.
The mother of two, however, declined and in an attempt to force her, Mwangi picked a knife and stabbed her several times on the hands and back.
James Thuo, a neighbour, said during the ensuing argument he heard Wangui telling Mwangi to consult his parents first over the sale of the plot before seeking her signature.
Before long Wangui started screaming and ran out of the house saying that Mwangi wanted to kill her.
“I called other neighbours and we ran to the scene only to find the woman lying down, bleeding,” he said
The man locked himself in the house which Wangui was given by her father after they separated a year ago.
The neighbours called a boda boda rider who rushed her to a nearby dispensary where she was given first aid and referred to Nyahururu county referral hospital where she is currently admitted.
“We circled the house and broke the door only to find Mwangi’s body dangling from the roof,” Thuo said
Wangui’s father Patrick Muruku said he has been accommodating the daughter and paying the school fees for one of her two children since she separated from Mwangi, a drunkard.
Muruku said a day before going to attack his daughter, Mwangi had sold one of his wooden houses and wasted the money drinking and now wanted to sell the whole plot which he had jointly bought with his estranged wife.
Nyandarua North subcounty deputy police commander Paul Saitoti who confirmed the incident said investigations have been launched.
Saitoti the body of the deceased was moved to Nyahururu County Referral Hospital mortuary.