A man identified as Ken Mburu, has stabbed his two daughters, set his house ablaze, and attempted to commit suicide in Kenya.

KNA reports that the two children are fighting for their lives at Nyahururu County referral hospital after they were stabbed by their father in Ziwani estate Nyandarua County following a family dispute on Saturday evening, June 19.

Mburu who stabbed himself on the stomach is also admitted to the same hospital.

 

Ken Mburu is said to have run berserk and stabbed the two girls aged seven and two, set their house ablaze and then attempted suicide by stabbing himself.

The 7-year- old suffered 10 stabs on the back, and her younger sister two stabs also on her back.

According to neighbours, the man’s action was triggered by a quarrel that he had with his wife the previous night, after which she escaped living behind the children.

Report says, the suspect stabbed himself on the stomach and chest before jumping out of the compound through the face when neighbours stormed the compound and threatened to lynch him.

 

Unfortunately, he had managed to start a fire inside the house using the family gas cylinder. However, the fire had destroyed the property by the time fire engine from the Laikipia County government arrived from Nyahururu town for rescue.

A neighbour, Samuel Muturi who had to access the compound by jumping over the fence found the two-year-old girl wailing, while the elder girl was pleading with their father to stop.

 

“I was attracted by screams from the children when I arrived at the home I found the gate locked from the inside and decided to jump over the fence. I found the man holding a knife and was continuously stabbing the younger girl while the elder girl who was lying on the floor was bleeding profusely, pleading with her father to stop,” Muturi said

Muturi said more neighbours joined him after managing to break the gate.

 

“We begged him not to hurt the kids and let us help him solve his problems. That was when he rushed to the house, set it ablaze using a gas cylinder before he stabbed himself several times on the stomach and chest, jumped over the fence, and took off with neighbours in hot pursuit,” said another neighbour Esther Wambui.

 

Area Assistant Chief, Mary Kimani said;

“Neighbours heard the children wailing and suspected they were being attacked. A boy who arrived at the scene found the two-year-old girl wailing painfully, while calling for her mother, while the older girl was pleading with their father to stop.

 

He begged the man who had already set the house ablaze to stop hurting the kids.”

Mary Wangari, who is a neighbour of the couple said the man had been insisting that the minors’ DNA be conducted to ascertain their paternity.

“I have been into this house multiple times to solve their disputes, the last time I was here the man demanded that a DNA test be conducted to ascertain the children’s paternity and threatened to kill them,” Wangari said.

However, his wife, Martha Nyambura, who was away during the incident said it could have been an escalation of a quarrel they had on building a kennel for a dog Ken had brought the previous day.

“He had come home with a dog the previous night and demanded that I cater for the construction of its kennel but I refused. I left my children playing in the compound only for me to return home and find a multitude gathering there,” she said.