Man kills wife, burns her to ashes using two ‘gunias’ of charcoal

It is deemed to be one of the cruelest murders that has been reported from Tanzania’s coastal city of Dar es Salaam in recent times.

The brutal killing and subsequent burning to ashes of a 36-year-old woman -- allegedly -- by her husband has left citizens in the East African nation utterly astonished.

Police in the commercial city are holding a middle-aged man identified as Khamis Luwoga, alias Meshack, in connection with the death of Naomi Marijani, who went missing from her matrimonial home in May this year in unclear circumstances.

Naomi’s pictures were widely circulated on social media, with her friends and relatives hoping they would soon find her alive and in good health. Sadly, that won’t happen.

The head of criminal investigations department in Dar es Salaam, Camillius Wambura, said Naomi’s husband recently confessed to killing her, and, thereafter, set her body alight.

Per Luwoga’s confession, he used two sacks of charcoal to completely burn Naomi to ashes.

Dar es Salaam CID boss, Wambura, says the suspect took them to the scene, where he calcined his wife.

Kigamboni criminal investigations unit boss, Thobias Walelo, said the suspect strangled his wife in their matrimonial house before taking her body to his hen house, where he had already dug a grave.

The suspect placed his wife’s body in the grave and, thereafter, filled the chamber with charcoal. Luwoga, thereafter, lit the charcoal.

The suspect told police that he used two sacks of charcoal to completely sear his wife’s body.

Luwoga said he, thereafter, picked the ashes, placed them in a polythene bag, hopped into his car, a Subaru Forester of registration plate T206 CEJ, and drove to his shamba in Mlogolo, Dar es Salaam, where he buried the ashes.

The suspect allegedly told those who cared to listen that his wife had gone missing since May 15, 2019.

Luwoga even filed a missing person report at a Dar es Salaam police post under the OB Number MJ/RB/234/2019.

Police say the last time Naomi was seen in public was May 15.

Authorities say they are still investigating the matter before arraigning Luwoga on a murder charge.