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Family members of the late Maureen Moraa Kiriago remove the body from Migori County Referral Mortuary on February 22, 2022. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]
The family of the woman who was shot 16 times by her husband, a police officer, has revealed the couple had no issues between them.
According to the woman’s father Kennedy Kiriago, they are shocked with what happened as the police officer and their daughter lived peacefully.
However, they noted that despite having some disagreements before which the woman who was identified as Maureen Moraa, 27, had complained about, they later settled their matters and were okay.
“We don’t understand what happened but all in all we have to accept that my daughter is no more,” Mr. Kiriago said.
The family which visited Migori county referral hospital’s morgue to take their daughter’s body and clear with the police on February 22 are set to bury her body at their home in Nyamira County.
It has refused to let the police officer’s family take their kin’s body home on grounds that he had not paid dowry.
The family of the woman has also taken the couple’s two-year-old daughter on similar grounds.
“We have nothing against them. What has happened has happened. But we want the child to stay with us,” Kiriago stated.
They were allowed to pick the body after a post mortem examination was conducted.
However, by the time of going to press, police had not revealed the details of the report.
County Police Commander Mark Wanjala noted that investigations into the incident were ongoing.
The family of the police officer who was identified as Antony Mwangi declined to address the press.
A post mortem examination was yet to be carried out on Mwangi’s body.
According to police reports, the officer shot his wife 16 times in a bizarre incident before turning the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide incident.
Mwangi who is aged 29 years is said to have been on night duty on at Migori Police Station on Saturday when he asked for permission from work saying he was feeling unwell and was released to go home.
He is said to have gone to his rental home at Kawa Junction, Suna East Sub-County where he lived with his wife Maureen Moraa Kiriago at around 11pm with the riffle.
The police boss noted that Mwangi seemed to have left his work station without signing off and handing over the AK47 he was using while on duty.
“The late officer had booked off duty at report office at 11pm and proceeded to the house without handing back his firearm,” Wanjala stated.
Reports indicated Mwangi and wife got into an argument in the middle of the night.
According to neighbours who heard gunshots thereafter, Mwangi’s wife was expectant.
However, police could not ascertain the pregnancy claims.
“We cannot tell if she was really pregnant,” Mr. Wanjala said.
The neighbours noted that the couple lived peacefully and were shocked by the deaths.
Neighbours were woken up by gunshot sounds at around 1.40 am and trembled thinking that they had been attacked by robbers.
Mwangi who is said to have been posted at Migori police station last year opened fire at his wife who was trying to run outside their house for safety.
She had opened the door and when she was about to close it behind her, shots were fired at her and she screamed once and fell down.
When Mwangi heard a child crying at a neighbour’s house, he moved to the door and touched its lock to confirm if someone wanted to come out of the house and later walked to where his wife was lying and shot her again.
It did not end there as Mwangi moved just a few meters away and stood in front of his first neighbour’s door and shot himself on the chin, blowing off his head.
After silence resumed, a neighbour who heard the couple’s daughter crying outside decided to go and take her.
“We have never witnessed such a thing,” a neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
Mwangi is said to have been living alone at the rental house until his wife joined him a month ago.
Wanjala noted that Mwangi fired 17 bullets, with 16 rapturing his wife’s body.
“The subject rifle was found at the scene with a magazine containing 13 rounds of ammunition while 17 spent cartridges were also recovered,” Wanjala said.
When police arrived at the scene at dawn on February 20, they found the lifeless body of the policeman and his wife lying on a pool of blood outside their rental house.
In April last year, a GSU officer killed his wife and later turned the gun on himself over infidelity claims.
Through the incident, the officer ended their seven years relationship and left two children orphaned.
In December 2021, another police officer shot his wife in the neck before going on a shooting spree.
The officer killed five people before shooting himself with an AK47 rifle in Kabete, Nairobi.
Cases of police killings have been on the rise with a finger being pointed at depression and mental health issues.
Currently, police are putting efforts into reconciling the two families who at first refused to talk to each other.
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