The case on slain University Student Ivy Wangeci has exposed the skeleton in the closet, and the need to close in on the matter of domestic violence.
Data from Counting Dead Women Kenya indicate that during the period between January 1, 2019, and 13th April, about 40 women were killed.
The majority of the femicide cases involved women being murdered by intimate partners: Spouses and boyfriends.
More worrying trends show that homicide cases have taken a sharp spike after increasing by 5% from 2648 in the year 2015 to 2774 in 2018.
Depression
Statistics from the Kenya Mental Health Policy show that about 40 per cent of In-patients in the health facilities are mentally handicapped.
World Health Organization report indicates depression is a major cause of murders, and in Africa, Kenya is only second to Tanzania in the most-depressed country index.
About 2 million Kenyans are mentally-incapacitated in Kenya while 2.1 million others are in Tanzania.
Unresolved Murders
A Nyeri woman was hacked to death by her estranged lover, just days after one Naftali Kinuthia was rescued by Police after allegedly axing his girlfriend Ivy Wangeci in Moi University.
Kinuthia is now a detained man after an Eldoret Court gave the police orders to detain him for 15 days.
Some of the cases are Joseph Kori’s wife who was allegedly murdered in a love triangle, where the case is yet to be determined.
In February, Beryl Adhiambo Ouma was allegedly murdered by her husband in Kahawa Sukari after a quarrel with her husband.
The husband who was reported to have been abusive is said to have brutally assaulted Beryl before she died.
Also, the case against Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado involving a Rongo University student, Sharon is yet to be concluded.
In one of the most bizarre cases in Kenyan criminal history, Gilbert Kapule Oketch was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2018 after he strangled his wife Carolyne Mwanza Mutunga.
In the ugly incident, Gilbert is said to have strangled his wife after a domestic scuffle, after which he burnt her face, thighs and chest with a hot iron box!
He is currently serving his jail term, after a case that took close to six years to conclude.
Gilbert was nabbed by sleuths at Malaba border eight months after he committed the heinous crime in Nairobi.
In the landmark ruling, Justice Roselyn Korir made strong statements that informed the basis of most rulings that were to follow.
“No man or woman should have to die in the hands of their spouse or partner or lover and particularly in a manner suggestive of cold-blooded slaughter in the name of domestic violence,” she remarked.
“As I sign off this judgment, I must yet again make the call to the relevant State and non-State actors, including the civil society organisations, religious ones and the society in general, to design interventions to stem escalation of domestic violence that continues to cause loss of life in the home,” she added.