<\/a>Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSuspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and “to their shock” found the body parts, said a statement from Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is far from an isolated case – Kenya has one of the highest rates of femicide, or killings with a gender-related motivation, in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After police officers interrogated Mr Wambua, he told them that the body parts belonged to his wife, Joy Fridah Munani, according to the DCI statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He appeared “unperturbed” by the officers’ discovery, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the interrogation, Mr Wambua led the officers to his home, where they discovered a knife, blood-soaked clothes and more body parts under a bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DCI described the act as “heinous”, adding that the suspect will be formally charged with murder during an upcoming court hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between August and October last year, at least 97 women were murdered, Kenya’s National Police Service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December, hundreds of women protesting against a recent wave of femicides took to the streets of the capital, Nairobi. They were reportedly met by police firing teargas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenya has seen several high-profile murders of women. In September 2024, Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei was killed by her former partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 33-year-old died days after being doused in petrol and set alight at her home in western Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In July, police arrested Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, who they described as a “serial killer”, after the mutilated bodies of nine women were found in a disused quarry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Khalusha escaped from custody a month later and appears to still be on the run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier that year, in a case that sparked widespread outrage, a young woman named Rita Waeni was brutally murdered at a short-term rental apartment. The police said she was dismembered and stuffed into a plastic bag. (BBC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police in Kenya have arrested a man carrying a mutilated corpse in his backpack, which he reportedly said belonged to his 19-year-old wife. Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn. Suspecting Wambua was carrying something illegal, they searched his backpack and “to their shock” …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t