This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
On August 11, 2019, a tragic incident unfolded in Migori County, leaving two brothers dead in a dispute over a wife inheritor.
According to reports, Jaoko Anyiko from Uriri had been in an affair with Yunis Oduor, a woman from Orandi village in Awendo. The relationship had been going on for a while, but things took a turn when the woman told Anyiko that she wanted to be inherited by her in-laws, sparking a dispute.
Anyiko, who had been trying to make peace, was met with resistance from the brothers, Antony Otieno Obunde, 45, and Charles Obondo Obunde, 32. The brothers chased Anyiko into a sugarcane plantation, where he was slashed with a panga and died of his injuries.
The police are now hunting for the wife inheritor, who is accused of killing the two brothers and fleeing the scene.
According to Luo traditions, a widow should be inherited by a man called 'Jater' who should sleep in the deceased's house, have sexual relations with the woman, and leave behind his coat in the house. However, most men are afraid to make the first move, which is called 'Tero Chola', to cleanse the woman of the spirit of death and misfortune.
Joseph Nthenge, Migori police boss, said that the villagers chased the suspect, who disappeared into a nearby sugarcane plantation. The bodies were taken to Rapcom Hospital mortuary, and the police have intensified a search for the suspect to avoid a retaliatory attack.
