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By Peter Mutuku and Patrick Mutisya
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of a 24-year-old man and his 21-year-old girlfriend, whose bodies were found in their rented house in Nguluni, Matungulu Sub-County in Machakos County on Christmas Day.
Neighbours say the last time they saw the couple in public was on December 22.
It is suspected the man, Stephen Mumo, who hails from Mumbuni Village in Kathiani, Machakos County, strangled his partner Anne Mariam Chalia, a native of Kitungati Village in Chuluni, Kitui County, before committing suicide by hanging.
Elizabeth Syombua Munguti, the landlady of the house that the lovers had rented, said the two moved into the building on December 15, and their union was marred by constant wrangles and domestic violence.
On December 25, the property owner said upon peeping through the couple’s window, she saw the lovers’ bodies.
“The man was hanging from a mosquito net tied to the roof, whereas the woman was lying on the bed,” said Syombua.
Police were called to the scene and took the bodies to Kangundo District Hospital mortuary.
Nguluni Location chief, Johnbosco Ndambuki, confirmed the incident.
It is suspected that Mumo killed Chalia, who sat her KCSE exam at Moi Girls’ High School in Nairobi in 2019, after suspecting that she was cheating on him.
“Mumo worked in Nairobi, whereas his lover, Chalia, was permanently based here. On several occasions, I saw a different man entering Mumo’s house, when he was away in the capital city. There was a time I heard Mumo accusing Chalia of cheating on him when he was away,” said Syombua, the landlady.
Area chief, Ndambuki, says it is suspected that Mumo and Chalia died on December 22, given “the bodies had already decomposed”.
