Shock as man accused of killing wife burnt to death

Sylvester Matika, who was accused of killing his 40-year-old wife, was cornered by locals, set on fire and his homestead was also razed.

According to Vincent Arambe Lusala, a local, Matika moved to the village several years ago, but there had been rumours that he had run away from his home after being linked to the murder of another relative.

He said locals resorted to burning down Matika’s entire homestead as part of a cleansing exercise.

“When somebody is accused of killing their kin, there is a curse and the only way to cleanse the area is to get rid of all the culprit’s belongings,” he said.

Police have launched investigations into the matter.

Authorities warned locals against taking the law into their own hands. 

The bodies of the two were taken to Kakamega County Referral Hospital for postmortems.