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Police in Kenya have arrested a man who was carrying a mutilated body in his backpack, which he said was that of his 19-year-old wife.
The officers encountered 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while on pre-dawn patrol in Huruma, a district east of Nairobi.
Suspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and found “shocked” body parts, Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.
This is far from an isolated case: Kenya has one of the highest rates of femicide or gender-motivated murders in Africa.
After police questioned Mr Wambua, he told them the body parts belonged to his wife Joy Fridah Munani, according to the DCI’s statement.
He appeared “unperturbed” by the officers’ findings, he said.
After questioning, Mr. Wambua took the officers to his home, where they found a knife, blood-soaked clothes and more body parts under a bed.
The DCI described the act as “appalling” and the suspect will be formally charged with murder at an upcoming court hearing.
At least 97 women were murdered between August and October last year, the Kenya National Police Service said.
In December, hundreds of women protesting against a recent wave of femicide took to the streets of the capital, Nairobi. They are said to have known that the police were firing tear gas.
Kenya has seen several killings of women. In September 2024, Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei he was killed by his ex-partner.
The 33-year-old died days after his home in western Kenya was doused with petrol and set on fire.
In July, police arrested Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, described as a “serial killer”, after the bodies of nine women were found in a disused quarry.
Mr. Khalusha escaped from custody a month later and it seems he is still on the run.
Earlier this year, in a case that spread anger, A young woman named Rita Waeni was brutally murdered in a short-term rental apartment. Police said they broke it up and put it in a plastic bag.
