An 18-year-old woman who allegedly stabbed her husband to death during a domestic fight over money at their rented house in Huruma Estate in Nairobi was charged with manslaughter contrary to section 205 of the Penal Code.
Damaris Nthoki is accused of unlawfully causing the death of her husband Shadrack Mutinda Makau on August 12 this year during the fight.
Mr Makau had returned home at around 8 pm while drunk and asked his wife whether their caretaker’s son had come to collect rent, and she told him that she had not seen him.
He also asked her whether she had bought maize four and vegetables, and she told him that she had no money.
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The deceased informed the suspect that he had left Sh500 on top of the cupboard and told her to spend Sh150 only for the maize four and vegetables.
However, the deceased followed his wife to a kiosk where she had gone to buy vegetables and demanded his money back in full, although Ms Nthoki had already spent Sh90.
She left him outside, returned to the house, and kept the remaining amount of the money – Sh410- at the same place she had picked.
Mr Makau arrived at the house again and asked for the money, and the suspect showed him where she had kept the balance after buying vegetables.
The two started quarreling before getting into a fight, during which Ms Nthoki is said to have taken a knife and stabbed the deceased in the thigh.
She told the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) that after the fight, the deceased left the house and returned at around 11pm and apologized to her.
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He then fell on the floor, and she went to sleep, leaving him there. During investigations, She told the DCI that she thought her husband was unconscious because of being drunk.
Ms Nthoki informed her neighbours the next day that her husband was still lying unconscious in the house, and the neighbours called a Nyumba Kumi official, who informed the area chief and the police.
Officers from Huruma Police Station visited the area and found the deceased and the suspect in the house where they arrested Ms Nthoki.
A blood-stained knife suspected to be the weapon used in killing Mr Makau was also found in the house. The DCI has already recovered the knife and blood-stained clothes as exhibits.
Mr Makau’s body was taken to a mortuary where a postmortem was later conducted and the autopsy revealed that his death was caused by excessive bleeding caused by a stab wound.
Ms Nthoki denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi. She was released on a bond of Sh500,000 with one surety of a like sum.
The case will be mentioned on November 16 before the hearing starts on April 16 next year.
Neighbours interviewed by the police said the two have been fighting regularly inside their house, and some of them have been listed as witnesses in the house alongside the Nyumba Kumi official and police officers.
