A man in Kiambu County has defended his act of domestic violence towards his wife and mother of two children, as too much love.
The man claimed that he beat his wife Wangui nearing death because he had heard rumors that she was cheating on him, causing him an emotional turmoil.
“I get provoked because she hurts me emotionally and it’s so sad that I hurt her physically,” he said.
The particular ordeal, which was the worst of a series of domestic violence the woman had over time been subjected to was brought up when her husband urgently needed match box.
He asked for a matchbox and she told him there was none. He insisted on being given a matchbox, saying he needed to light a cigarette. She told him to search for it in his pockets.
In reaction, Wangui said she was slapped. Her partner accused her of denying him food.“I asked him to hand over the matchbox he had so I could light the gas cooker and warm the food for him,” said Wangui.
She said he started beating her in the kitchen. They eventually ended up in the bedroom where her partner stripped her naked and tied her hands to the window. There he continued to beat her. He then lit up the gas cooker to heat a machete and seared her thighs and back. “He would put the machete on the fire, make sure it is red hot before placing it on my skin. The pain was excruciating,” said Wangui.She added: “I screamed for help but no one came to my rescue. Our children woke up but they were afraid to come close to him.”
Wangui eventually managed to break free and went to a neighbour’s house who on the next day took her to the police station then to a hospital.
In her defence, she had over time endured her husband’s battering because she was affirmed of his love for her, and hoped he would change.
Based on Wangui’s husband’s defence, reports reveal that nearly all male murderers claim that (a) they committed the murder out of love, and (b) it was a result of loving too much.
This in the wake of rampant domestic violence leading to unwarranted murders of an intimate partner. The woman often being on the receiving end.
A case of Nicholas Koech, who allegedly stabbed his lover Ms Naomi Chepkemoi, a third-year student at Pwani University, again “out of love”.
“Naomi is my wife and I love her very much. We started dating back in 2016 while she was a first year,” he said.
But when does the battering end? When criminals run out of love, or when the world is out of women to batter because of love?