Pastor stabs wife to death, commits suicide during church service

TRACKING >Elijah Misiko, a Kenyan assistant pastor with the Ground for God’s Gospel Church in Mombasa, during a church service, left his front-row seat and approached his wife, senior pastor Ann Mughoi, on the pulpit and stabbed her with one of the knives he had hidden in an envelope, a report has said.

The incident happened on Sunday, according to Mombasa sub-county police commander Julius Kiragu,

“He walked up to his wife while the church was praying”. Then he took one of the knives and stabbed her two times, believing she was dead, he then stabbed himself three times in the stomach and slit his throat, ” police said.

Misiko died instantly from his stab wounds and Mughoi, his wife died at a local hospital a few hours later, police said.

The couple is said to have been engaged in a long-running feud over the ownership and leadership of the church. In 2017, Misiko was detained by the police in Mombasa after his wife alleged he planned to kill her, the police commander said.

Misiko was released the following day after police said they found the accusations untrue. The couple, which had four children, had lived apart since the dispute began two years ago, police said.

Misiko left a 17-page suicide note in which he accused Mughoi of changing ownership of the church, which he said the couple founded, to her name alone, police said.

The two bodies were moved to the Coast General Hospital mortuary.