The man set the house ablaze. [Photo/standardmedia.co.ke]
A 53-year-old man is nursing serious body burn injuries while his second wife perished after he set their house ablaze at Kapng’etuny village in Chesumei constituency, Nandi County.
The man identified as Jackton Kimori is said to have sprinkled petrol on himself and his wife, before lighting a matchbox after the two were allegedly involved in a domestic wrangle, Monday night.
Nandi central OCPD Stephen Obara said they received a call from a member of the public who alerted them of the happenings prompting the police to rush to the scene to rescue the situation.
The wife succumbed to the burn injuries Tuesday morning while the man is still battling for his life with arrangements in place to have him transferred to the Moi teaching and referral hospital in Eldoret for specialised treatment.
"We were informed that a man had burnt himself and his wife in a house and my officers reacted swiftly. They managed to rescue the two from the house but unfortunately, the wife died while receiving treatment," said Obara.
The first wife, Jennifer Kimori, said she received a distress call from his husband on Monday night complaining that he had been locked out of the house by the second wife following a quarrel.
"My husband has been having regular wrangles with the second wife but I never thought it could reach such a point," said the shocked wife.
"At around 12midnight, the children came to my house to report the incident after they managed to jump out of the mud-walled house but when we went there the house was already on fire," narrated Dancun Kimani, a neighbor.