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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.<\/p>\n
Officers came across 29-year-old John Kiama Wambua while patrolling Huruma, a district east of Nairobi, just before dawn.<\/p>\n
Suspecting 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
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<\/div>\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
He appeared “unperturbed” by the officers’ discovery, it said.<\/p>\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
The DCI described the act as “heinous”, adding that the suspect will be formally charged with murder during an upcoming court hearing.<\/p>\n
Between August and October last year, at least 97 women were murdered, Kenya’s National Police Service said.<\/p>\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
Kenya has seen several high-profile murders of women. In September 2024, Olympic runner Rebecca Cheptegei<\/a> was killed by her former partner.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old died days after being doused in petrol and set alight at her home in western Kenya.<\/p>\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 Mr Khalusha escaped from custody a month later<\/a> and appears to still be on the run.<\/p>\n Earlier that year, in a case that sparked widespread outrage, a young woman named Rita Waeni was brutally murdered<\/a> at a short-term rental apartment. The police said she was dismembered and stuffed into a plastic bag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n