Eldoret woman charged with killing boyfriend in Sh1,500 blanket dispute

A 42-year-old woman was arraigned for allegedly stabbing her 28-year-old boyfriend to death following a dispute over a blanket worth Sh1,500 in Uasin Gishu county.

Salome Cherobon, a mother of three, appeared before Eldoret High Court Deputy Registrar Daniel Sitati last Friday but was not allowed to take a plea.

After reviewing the court files, Sitati ordered that the suspect be taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for mental assessment to determine whether she is fit to stand trial in the murder case.

The court also directed police to transfer the suspect from Eldoret Central Police Station, where she had been held for more than two weeks, to Eldoret GK Women’s Remand Prison.

He said there was no justification for keeping the suspect at the police station when Eldoret GK Remand Prison had sufficient space.

“Let the accused person be escorted to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for a mental assessment to determine whether she is fit to take plea. I also direct that she be transferred to Eldoret GK Prison,” Sitati ruled.

The court heard that the suspect allegedly stabbed the deceased in the chest before leaving him for dead in her one-bedroom house in an incident that occurred on the outskirts of Eldoret City two weeks ago.

According to the investigating officer, the woman later boarded a motorcycle to Baharini Police Station, where she surrendered and informed the officer on duty that she had killed someone in her house using a kitchen knife.

She was arrested by a team of police officers led by OCS Abdi Hassan in connection with the fatal stabbing of her estranged boyfriend, Moses Ihaji Mukabwa.

The officers accompanied her to the scene, where they found the deceased’s blood-stained body and recovered the suspected murder weapon, a kitchen knife, along with other exhibits.

It is alleged that the deceased had gone to the woman’s residence after accusing her of taking away his blanket the previous day.

The court heard that the deceased met his death following a disagreement that arose a day after the woman had hosted him at her house.

After the quarrel, the deceased allegedly demanded that the woman return a blanket he had bought for her. In the ensuing confrontation, a fight broke out, during which the woman is alleged to have stabbed him to death.