Police have arrested a 75-year-old woman who kept the body of her husband for more than a week in their house at Free Area estate on the outskirts of Nakuru town.

The residents were shocked when the woman reported the matter at Mwariki Police Station before she was detained pending arraignment in court on Monday.

According to a senior police officer at the police post, who could not be quoted as he is not authorized to speak to the media, the woman walked into the police station and reported the matter as if it was a petty crime.

The officer said that according to the woman’s statement, her husband, who was also 75, collapsed in their one-roomed mud thatched house after taking hot milk.

DOMESTIC SQUABBLES

Local chief Stephen Macharia told Nairobi News that the couple had been living as man and wife for more than 51 years and had two grown up children and a number of grandchildren.

Mr Macharia said the elderly couple had a long history of domestic squabbles and had on several occasions reported to his office for arbitration but efforts to reconcile them were futile.

Some of the shocked residents said that the elderly couple was living under the mercy of the well-wishers who donated food and clothing to them.

The decomposing body of the victim was taken to Nakuru County Mortuary for postmortem.