Man who chopped off his wife’s hands in 2016 over infidelity, infertility jailed for 30 years

"Where a marriage has clearly irretrievably broken down for whatever reason, it is better for the couple to accept the reality and pick up whatever remains of their future and move on."

This was Machakos High Court Judge George Odunga's remarks while delivering a judgment in an appeal where Stephen Ngila Nthenge, the man who chopped his wife Jackline Mwende's hands in 2016 over infidelity and infertility, has been jailed for 30 years.

While dismissing the appeal by Nthenge to vary the jail term imposed on him, the judge advised couples in the poetic judgment that "there is no heroism in having a lunch date with death."

Nthenge attacked Jackline Mwende at their home village in llinge, Mithini sub-county in Machakos county with a machete on July 18,2016 which also left her deaf in one ear.

Both of her hands were also wholly severed and she sustained serious injuries to her cheek, head and back

In his decision, the judge went ahead to advise couples to know when to walk away and when to run where there options available in circumstances of violence.

Justice Odunga said that couples, parents and even church leaders ought not insist that marriage couples stick together even if in cases where the centre no longer holds and where the glue that brought them together has since lost it's strength.

He noted that what transpired between the Nthenge and his wife leading to have her hands chopped off was a said state of marital affair where couples stick to their marriage even when the relationship fell apart long time ago.

The judge upheld the lower court's decision and dismissed the appeal by Nthenge saying the offences of causing grievous harm he faces are serious which attracted a maximum sentence.