A 24-year-old woman is in police custody after allegedly stabbing her 38-year-old husband to death on Sunday night in Kitengela township, Kajiado County.

According to detectives, preliminary investigations and family accounts point to long-standing marital disputes as the cause of the fatal confrontation.

The suspect’s father-in-law, Reuben Thuku, told police he received a call at around 8.30 pm from his daughter-in-law, informing him that she had stabbed his son with a kitchen knife on the thigh and that he was bleeding heavily.

In an interview, Mr Thuku revealed that his son’s marriage had been unstable for the past two years. He disclosed that this was not the first violent incident between the couple.

“Last year, Elizabeth Wanjiku Muthoni stabbed my son Simon Peter Thuku in the chest after a disagreement, but fortunately it was not fatal. There were at least two other occasions where she attempted to reach for a knife during an argument,” he said.

He admitted that family and church had tried intervening to salvage the marriage without success.

“We even advised them to separate, but they would not listen,” he added.

The couple, who had no children, relocated from Mlolongo in Machakos County to a rental house in Kitengela’s Orata area last year.

Mr Thuku said he was with the suspect in church in Nairobi earlier that day. They parted ways in Kitengela town at around 6.30 pm

“She went home, but her husband had locked the house. When he later returned with the keys, an argument broke out and escalated inside the house,” Mr Thuku recounted.

Neighbours in the semi-permanent rental block said the couple frequently quarreled in public.

Isinya Sub-county Police Commander Simon Lokitari termed the killing “unfortunate” and urged couples in troubled relationships to seek help before disputes escalate into violence.

“To avert such untimely deaths, it’s advisable for couples to seek counseling when their relationships are strained,” said the police boss.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kitengela have since launched a probe and say they are building a watertight case against the suspect.