This archive report was first published on 6 October 2019.
On October 6, 2019, news broke of the death of Emma Wanyotta, a young woman allegedly killed by a serial killer who was out on bond.
Her badly mutilated body was discovered in a napier grass plantation in Moi's Bridge Town, Uasin Gishu County, leaving residents shocked and seething with anger.
Just a week earlier, a woman in Nyeri was captured in-camera wailing after learning of her son's brutal murder. The man, who confessed to committing the crime, was once the woman's lover.
These cases are the latest incidents of the violence that more women are facing in Kenya. Ivy Wangeci, a Moi University student, was hacked to death by her alleged boyfriend, while Monica Kimani's throat was slit by her lover, and Natalie Kellsall was killed and dismembered by her Kenyan boyfriend in 2013.
It's time to ask ourselves how we got to this point and why the senseless killing of women has become the norm. Nothing can ever justify any criminal act by a jilted lover.
When a relationship ends, people need to part ways amicably. Women have the right to make decisions about their lives, and no one owns anyone.
As Annie Njanna writes, 'No one owns anyone - we are just partners in this boat of life, paddling through this treacherous river as we chase our dreams and fulfilling life.'
