Femicide in Kenya: Cases of young women getting murdered in the name of love in Kenya have been on the rise over the recent few years. The script seems to be the same in all the incidents:

1). Girl falls in love with man

2). Things go awry in the relationship

3). Girl says she is breaking up or Girl refuses a marriage proposal

5). Man plots and murders girl

The latest of these cases is that of Catherine Nyokabi which has left the nation in shock. In a few weeks, like all the previous cases, Catherine Nyokabi will be forgotten and the country will move on to the next incident, even as wheels of justice grind excruciatingly slow…. sometimes even stopping to grind. In memory of all victims of femicide in Kenya whose families are still searching for justice, we look at the most prominent cases of women who have been murdered in Kenya in the name of love:

Catherine Nyokabi

She was murdered by Evans Karani in April 2021. The suspect, who was a sand broker in Ndarugo, Kiambu County, is said to have confessed to killing Nyokabi after she allegedly entered into a relationship with another man. “He said he had dated Nyokabi, a mother of one, for two years, but of late she had developed interest in another man,” investigators.

Anne Wanjohi

Anne Wanjohi, in 2017, was shot dead by her lover, a police officer identified as Constable Simon Njoroge Njau, for turning down his marriage proposal. The police constable further went ahead and shot himself three times and later succumbed to his self-inflicted wounds three days later at Kenyatta National Hospital.

Ivy Wangechi

On Tuesday, sixth year Moi University student, Ivy Wangechi, was hacked to death by her jilted lover who allegedly drove all the way to Eldoret to commit the heinous act. The suspect, Naftali Kinuthia, is said to have explained that he took the action out of frustrations after Wangechi failed to reciprocate his love towards her. The incident that sounds every note of a ‘murder with a motive’ adds to the growing statistic of cold-blooded murders of young Kenyan ladies.

Endinal Nyainda

In 2016, Endinal Nyainda was stabbed to death by her lover following an argument after she threatened to leave him. The killer then went ahead and called the victim’s sister asking her to come and pick up the corpse of the slain body at a Kahawa apartment where the two lovers lived.

Sharon Otieno

Earlier the same year, Rongo University student Sharon Otieno’s body was found in a thicket where she lay in her blood-stained white tracksuit, with her underwear and condoms around her. The slain university student was abducted from a Garca hotel together with NTV journalist Barrack Oduor. Mr Oduor later freed himself from the abductors by jumping out of a moving vehicle. Sharon was at the time of her death pregnant with Governor Okoth Obado’s baby. The county boss is the main suspect in her murder.

Careen Chepchumba