Man kills entire family, self in what is suspected to be a deal gone sour.

Curious onlookers peep through the windows of what remained of Patrick Nderitu's house after an incident where the whole family of five perished in what is assumed to be murder by their own father. 

A sombre mood has engulfed Maraba village Juja Constituency after a middle-aged man wiped his entire family and then taking his own life.

The incident, that was reported to have occurred about 12:30 am Tuesday, ended the lives of Rose Kanini and her three children, two boys and a girl, all in the hands of their husband and dad respectively.

The eldest of their son is 7 years old while the other two who are twins aged 4 years.

According to neighbours, Patrick Nderitu, who is in his mid-thirties, murdered his wife and children by stabbing them and hitting them with what is suspected to be a blunt object before setting the house on fire. The victims were found with cloths stuffed into their mouths.

“We found the kids in one of the rooms lying dead on the floor and with multiple cuts on their heads and cloths stuffed into their mouths. Their mother was lying on the bed and covered in clothes,” explained Jackson Thuku, who was among the first people to arrive at the scene.

Thuku says that when they arrived, the husband was still alive and was attempting to get out of the house but collapsed before he got to the door.

“We mobilised the villagers to bring water as some of us broke the doors. By the time we broke into the house, it was too late. The man had already died in the fire that had consumed their entire sitting room,” said John Kamau.

The fire never got into the rooms where the children and the wife were lying dead.

Preliminary reports indicate that the man threw a suicide note off the window but none of those we talked to admitted to having a glance of what it might have contained.

“Yes, he threw a piece of paper at us but we were all so preoccupied with putting off the fire to even think about it. I suppose it was swept away by the running water especially after the fire brigade came to put off the fire,” said Thuku.

Sources close to the family suspect that the origin of this bizarre incident might have emanated from a deal gone sour in which Nderitu is said to have lost about KES. 1.5 million shillings to unknown conmen.

According to our sources, Nderitu had been convinced to raise the money in order to bid for a tender to supply building materials to an unspecified Kenya Defence Forces’ (KDF) camp. Through loans sourced from friends and groups where his wife was a member, they were able to raise the money and had already given out KES. 500,000.

It is said that after some time, the wife started suspecting some foul play and discouraged the husband from going ahead with the deal, a matter that brought about frequent disagreements between them. Eventually, the husband is said to have secretly withdrawn the rest of the money and handed it over to the said conmen, who immediately disappeared and went offline.

Nderitu is said to have been destabilised by the loss and looked so disturbed to a point of not reporting to work at the quarry he operated as a foreman.

Our sources allege that the couple was in constant disagreement over the last one week especially due to the kind of pressure that was being exerted on them to refund the money they had borrowed.

When contacted, Juja OCPD Patricia Nasio, denied any knowledge of a suicide note nor the theory about the lost money.

She said that investigations were on going to establish the circumstances leading to the incident.