University Student Spotted By Boyfriend With Another Man, Stabbed Three Times

Winfred Opha was reportedly killed by her boyfriend who was a visitor at the party and had found her in the company of another man.

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Jul 10, 2023 - 17:07
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University Student Spotted By Boyfriend With Another Man, Stabbed Three Times
A crowd surrounding a police car. /FILE

A medical college student was on Sunday, July 9 stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Kanyakine, Imenti South, Meru County during a birthday party she attended alongside her colleagues.

Winfred Opha was reportedly killed by her boyfriend who was a visitor at the party and had found her in the company of another man.

Humphrey Mugambi, the acting chief of Kanyakine, revealed that at the time of the incident, the students from the college which was not named held a party on Saturday night (July 8) which went all the way into Sunday morning.

"The boyfriend visited without informing her and when he found her in the company of another man, a fight broke out," he told the Nation.

A Kenyan Police Officer at a crime scene. /FILE

Winfred was stabbed three times; in the neck, chest and stomach, and died instantly as a result. Three other students were injured in the attack.

An officer at Nkubu police station revealed that the killer had fled the scene and is being sought by police, with reports indicating that he may have escaped to Nairobi.

"We are still following up on leads to establish his whereabouts. He may have fled to Nairobi because he had visited his girlfriend," the officer said.

Mugambi lamented the increase in violent crime in the Kanyakine market in the recent past owing to a shortage of police officers as well as the opening of the medical tertiary institution.

"There are a lot of students in Kanyakine market after the opening of the medical college, but we have no officers to patrol at night. Four people have been killed in two months and this is worrying.

"When I walk around the market at night, I see criminals harassing people. They are not afraid because they know I cannot arrest them," he revealed.

Last month, a 72-year-old woman was raped and killed in the area and a young man suspected of the crime was subsequently lynched by members of the public.

The macabre killing has a resemblance to the case of Moi University medical student, Ivy Wangechi, who was murdered by her boyfriend, Naftali Kinuthia, in April 2019 in a case which shocked the whole country.

Kinuthia gave his final defence evidence in the murder case which is being heard by Justice Stephen Githinji at an Eldoret Court on Friday, March 3, almost four years since the murder took place.

He traced his relationship with the late Wangechi all the way to their childhood days in primary school, adding that before her demise, she borrowed him Ksh28,000 to fund her birthday party which he agreed to. 

He further recalled how he had travelled all the way from Nairobi to Eldoret to wish her happy birthday, after funding the party and seeing his intimate lover and long-time friend hugging another man. This was despite their relationship being estranged to the point that she had blocked his number for some time making it impossible for him to reach her.

Kinuthia said that he tried severally to reconcile their differences and communicated to her through a friend identified as Mary Ann Chepkoech. He had asked Chepkoech to convince Wangechi that they meet and talk out but it did not materialize.

He sent her Ksh14,000, promising to deliver the balance on April 10, 2019, which was her birthday. However, Wangechi blocked him and on April 4, Kinuthia made the journey to Eldoret without her knowledge.

Wangechi had refused to meet him to sort out their differences, a matter which made Kinuthia travel to Eldoret in his car and then to the medical school where he parked and locate Wangechi in person and deliver the balance himself.

While near the hostels, he ran into Wangechi who was surprised to see him and revealed to him that her new boyfriend would take care of the remaining costs. She proceeded to chase him away from the party, a matter that made him realise that she cut all ties with him.

He returned to his car and decided that he would never talk to her again. While inside the car, he looked back and saw her hugging and holding hands with a male friend around 50 meters away, a man whom he later determined as Andrew Macharia.

It was here that he lost control and was clouded by so much anger over the events that he was unable to describe how he reached out for the axe to attack her. 

Side-by-side image of Naftali Kinuthia and the late Ivy Wangechi. /STANDARD DIGITAL

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