Marital problems pushed officer to murder wife, self
Woman had moved out of their house days before husband shot her eight times in her residence and then shooting himself.
On Tuesday evening, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i’s bodyguard, Constable Hadson Wakise, left Harambee House for his Ruaraka residence armed with a pistol and 30 rounds of ammunition.
Around the same time, his wife, Constable Pauline Wakasa, left Kilimani Police Station where she is attached to the Traffic department.
She had been offered a lift together with her other colleagues by a senior colleague.
However, during the 14-kilometre journey, she never uttered a word, something her colleagues described as “unusual.”A few hours later, the bodies of Wakise and Wakasa, lay in a pool of blood in their living room.
Constable Wakise had shot his wife eight times before he blew off his head using his official firearm.
To friends, the couple usually introduced themselves with a common name “Wakiwaka” whenever they were together. And after a whirlwind romance Wakiwakas officially agreed to marry making it official to their families on February 14, 2015.
But underneath the veil of happiness lay deep seated marital problems.
A family member said Wakise had an on-and-off relationship with Wakasa, who hails from Busia County, who severally accused him of infidelity.
“We had already asked her to leave the man and live by herself because it was not the first time they were having issues,” the family member said.
Both the Interior Ministry and the National Police Service (NPS) headquarters yesterday issued statements over the incident, with Dr Matiang’i saying he was “deeply pained by the tragic incident” that ended the brilliant futures of the young officers.
“It’s a rude awakening to psychosocial challenges amongst some of our young officers that we have no choice but to now pay greater attention to,” Matiang’i said.
Detectives say the fatalities could have been more had the househelp not sensed danger and rushed out with the couple’s children, aged 5 and 2.
According to detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the officer was armed with a Jericho pistol with two magazines, each loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition.
“The officer fired several rounds into the wife’s chest, killing her on the spot. He then shot himself on the chin. They both died instantly,” NPS headquarters said.
The wife was still dressed in her official police uniform and was shot on the chest while sitting on a couch.
“The officer fired a total of 9 rounds of ammunition. One of the magazines was found intact with 15 rounds while the other had only six rounds left,” a senior detective told People Daily.
Domestic dispute
The Inspector General of the NPS Hillary Mutyambai yesterday said Wakise, a police constable, had been off-duty since April 1, and only reported back to work on Tuesday.
He left Harambee House at around 3pm and proceeded to his residence, according to the IG.
Sources and family members believed the officer took some days off to sort out a domestic dispute with his wife. They added that the couple had accused each other of infidelity and on Saturday, the wife shifted to a new house behind Naivas Ruaraka, leaving the husband at the GSU staff quarters.
She had used a GSU lorry to carry house-hold items, according to colleagues. Mutyambai confirmed in his statement that the incident “took place outside GSU camp”.
“The National Police sadly confirms the tragic demise of Force number 99047 Police Constable Hudson Wakise and his wife Force number 98615 Police Constable Pauline Wakasa following what seems to have been a domestic altercation in the early hours of the evening yesterday (Tuesday),” the IG said.
“PC Wakise was attached to VIP protection at the Ministry of Interior and Coordiation of Government while his wife was a traffic officer attached to Kilimani police station,” he added.
Wakise was also amongst a contingent of General Service Unit (GSU) officers who were deployed to Dusit D2 attack which took place on January 15, 2019 and left more than 20 people dead. People Daily has established that Wakise left the attack a day later and he was slightly injured - he received medical attention.
“We were together during the attack and I remember he was slightly injured in the eyes, an explosive had gone off affecting his eyes,” said a police source who spoke in confidence as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The officer said that since the old days he was known to be a man dedicated to his job and would always go out of the way to ensure that things are okay.
According to the woman’s brother, George Mulongo, she arrived home and was served supper by the househelp. A few minutes later while she was still eating, the husband entered the house.
He briefly talked to his wife and they started arguing and exchanging bitter words, with the wife accusing him of infidelity. Fearing for their lives, the househelp left the house with the two children.
“He walked out and returned shortly af-terwards to the sitting room. He then drew his pistol and shot the wife several times before shooting himself on the chin,” Mulongo told detectives.
Mulongo said he took cover within the house as gunshots rent the air.
“There were accusations of infidelity that prompted Pauline to shift from the GSU staff quarters. This appears to have infuriated the husband,” a source said.
The female officer reported on duty on Tuesday morning and spent most of the day on the city’s Valley Road, at the area between Integrity Centre and the Christ is the Answer Ministries (Citam). In the evening, she was given a lift by a senior colleague who noticed that she was unusually quiet during the entire trip to Ruaraka.
However, during their happy days, they loved each other and never shied away from expressing their love on social media. So attached was Wakasa, who loved listening to Seventh Day Adventist songs, to her husband that she preferred using the name Pauline Hadson on Facebook account which has several posts showing her how much she loved her husband. For instance, on October 2, 2017- she up-loaded an image on her account where she posted the man and her daughter captioning it with the words “there are my blessings.”
My family , my happiness.
Another post was uploaded in February the same year where she posted another photo of her husband carrying their daughter and captioned with the words, “My family, my happiness.”
Wakasa had also trained as a teacher. Police said both the firearm, serial number KP-44333035, and the recovered spent cartridges will be subjected to ballistic analysis.
Detectives from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) are also expected to join the investigations.
Part of the probe will include analysis of the communication and call data of the two officers before the fatal incident.
Among the key witnesses expected to help in the probe include the building’s caretaker who responded after the shots, the househelp and the wife’s brother, plus other colleagues and neighbours.
The scene was on Tuesday night visited by the Nairobi Region head of Operations Said Kiprotich, the Starehe sub-county commander Alice Kimeli and other senior officers.
Their bodies were transferred to the Kenyatta University Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem.They joined the General Service Unit (GSU) in the same year in 2012 where they started their relationship.
Wakise, 30, went for further training and was attached to the VIP Protection while his wife later joined general police duty before shifting to the Traffic department. She had served in Nakuru and Nairobi.
