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The 17-page suicide note left by the pastor who fatally stabbed his wife in the pulpit before killing himself in a church in Kiembeni, Mombasa County, tells of a highly troubled, 13-year marriage.
Pastor Elisha Misiko of the Ground for God’s Gospel Ministries in Chembani stabbed his wife, Ms Ann Mghoi, 45, several times in the pulpit before slitting his throat during the 9am service last Sunday.
The 55-year-old pastor, who was his wife’s assistant, arrived in church wearing a white shirt and khaki trousers, carrying his Bible, and sat in the front row.
But at some point during the service he got up, walked to the pulpit and attacked his wife in what seems to be the culmination of long-standing family wrangles.
Armed with two knives, the man of God kept worshippers at bay during an incident that seems to have been the culmination of his long-standing wrangles with his wife.
In the suicide note titled “Betrayal and its Consequences”, he blames his wife for provoking him into killing her, and the church and close family members for siding with his wife instead of helping them resolve their differences.
He accuses her of taking over his property and edging him out of the church’s management.
“We started from a poor background but I struggled, but now we are well off, now my wife wants divorce. To push her agenda, she claimed I had wanted to kill her and at one time I was locked in police cells, something which real hurts me..,”he says in the note, which he ends saying he would not have killed his wife if she had returned his property.
But even as details emerge behind what seemed to have pushed Pastor Misiko to the edge emerge, his family in Idunga village, Vihiga Sub-county, Vihiga County, has come to his defence.
On Monday, his mother, Ms Margaret Nandoya, said her firstborn son’s dispute with his wife over property began after he was jailed for a month for threatening to kill her.
“They differed over the ownership of the church and he sent his wife a threatening message. She reported the matter to the police, which lead to his arrest and imprisonment,” recalled Ms Nandoya.
“When he left prison, he found that his wife had taken over the church and was getting all the church’s proceeds. This angered him,” she added.
She said her son did menial jobs in Mombasa to raise funds to establish the church.
She acknowledged that the couple’s differences had been brought to her attention, and that efforts to resolve them were on.
“He was a good child and preacher. They married in church and have been visiting us. They had issues about the management of the church and kept fighting,” she said.
“I call for God’s support and mercies. I don’t know what to do. I am disturbed by what has just happened,” she added.
Pastor Misiko attended Chango Primary School before proceeding Mbale High School.
Meanwhile Kisauni Police Commander Julius Kiragu said Pastor Misiko had two knives and two copies of the suicide note.
“We found the original copy and a photocopy of the suicide note in his Bible, which is helping us in the investigations. We request locals to find amicable solutions to their marital wrangles,” Mr Kiragu said.
He confirmed that the pastor and his wife had separated, and that she had moved with their four children to her parents’ home in Taita-Taveta County.
“His wife used to commute from Taita-Taveta every weekend to conduct the services,” Mr Kiragu said.
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