The family of Naftali Kinuthia who is suspected of hacking a Moi University student to death has said the two were in a romantic relationship for years.

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According to the mother of the suspect, the two started dating a long time before the girl even joined university for a course in Medicine.

“They had been in a relationship even before my son got a job and the woman joined the school. He even wanted to marry her, but it seems they began having issues,” the mother told Standard.

She, however, admitted that she had never met the deceased but her son ‘kept talking about her’. To what points to a likely obsession, Kinuthia reportedly used to flash out his phone and show ‘his love’ to family members.

“I have never met the lady, but he used to show me her photos on phone...but recently, he came to me saying they had parted ways, a move which I told him was in the right direction because of their relationship issues,” the mother added.

The mum’s narration was corroborated by the suspect’s younger brother.

“I have never met her, but my eldest brother used to speak about her saying she is in Eldoret. He had photos of them on his phone,” the brother said.

The suspect is said to have waylaid the deceased, Ivy Wangechi, outside the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, where she was having her practical lessons and hacked her with an axe.

Wangechi was a medical student at Moi University’s School of Medicine.