Woman admits to killing her husband in self-defence
A house-wife charged with killing her estranged husband nearly four years ago shocked the court yesterday when she admitted her involvement in his tragic demise.
Liza Jebiwott Koima who appeared before Eldoret High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi said that she hit her late husband Abraham Lagat on the head with a blunt object resulting in his death in their bedroom.
The mother of two girls explained that the circumstances leading to her action stemmed from what she described nagging demands for her late husband.
The deceased, she said, wanted an unspecified amount of money from her to venture into large scale cereal farming in Narok county.
Acted swiftly
Koima, who is represented by lawyer Thomas Kigen, told the court that her enraged husband confronted her with a sharp Maasai sword with the intention to kill her after she told him that she had no money to give him.
“I acted swiftly in the ensuing scuffle and overpowered him before picking a blunt object which I hit him on the head twice, otherwise he could have stabbed me to death,” Koima told the Judge.
Koima who has denied killing Lagat, on August 27, 2020 at their house in Kipkorgot estate along the Eldoret-Ravine road in Uasin Gishu county, said she acted in self-defense. They had been married for 23 years.
She said that she did not inform her neighbours about what had transpired in her house nor did she rush her husband who was writhing in serious pain to the hospital using their family car.
“I did not inform my neighbours about the tragic incident which occurred at 5am because I feared that they might turn violent against me to an extent of lynching me in connection with my husband’s tragic death,” she said.
Hearing will resume on April 8.
