KENYA – The 50-year-old evangelical pastor who stabbed his wife and killed himself inside their church was a troubled man.
In a 17-page suicide note discovered in an envelope after the incident, Elisha Nyadoya accused his wife of 19 years, Anne Maghanga, of infidelity, conspiracy to swindle him of church property, and causing him to be held in police cells on false charges.
Nyadoya also claimed his wife, with whom he had four children, falsely accused him of sleeping with her relatives. He blamed her for their troubled marriage, revealing that Anne left with the children two years ago and he had not seen them since, although he paid their school fees and upkeep.
Nyadoya claimed he had proof that Anne was set to get married to another man on Friday. Although he was not opposed to the alleged planned marriage, he demanded that she should surrender part of their property to him.
A large part of the letter, written in Kiswahili, doesn’t make sense as Elisha alleges he was not opposed to Anne marrying another man, but at the same time reveals he planned to kill her nevertheless for betrayal and theft.
He confessed that he intended to kill her on December 31, 2019 when Anne paid him a visit, but his plans were thwarted by a police raid in their Kisauni neighbourhood.
Nyadoya and Anne were pastors at Ground for God’s Gospel 3G Ministries in Bamburi, Kiembeni, Mombasa. They launched the church in 2005 and it has two branches in Mombasa and Taita Taveta. Anne ran the Taita Taveta branch.
His in-laws have taken in the couple’s children.
The handwritten suicide note was titled Betrayal and its Consequences.
He stabbed his wife several times before turning the knife on himself on the pulpit at 10.30am last Sunday as worshippers watched.
He died on the spot while his wife died later while receiving treatment at the Coast Provincial General Hospital.
In the note, the pastor wrote how he had been thinking about killing himself for some time, outlining 18 reasons for wanting to murder his wife.
Poverty and hardship
“Intro: I married Anne M Maghanga aka Apostle Ann Elisha while we were poor with a lot of hardship, and with our struggle we were blessed with children, some properties and a calling to spread a word of God. It reached a point where my wife started behaving strangely in the following ways, and the results are as follows,” he said.
He said how his estranged wife carted away properties they jointly owned. He accused his wife of stealing church instruments and his plot; how he was once beaten in church on her orders; and how his wife accused him of having an affair with her relative.
He said he was once imprisoned for a year but he could not state the reason. A former landlord said the man was jailed after church instruments went missing at one of the churches he used to attend in the area.
He explained how his wife secretly started transferring the church and some of his properties to her name without his knowledge, and how he was forced to pay school fees for his children yet he didn’t know where they studied.
Police and church elders aware of the happenings told The Standard Anne’s marriage ceremony was slated for this Friday in Voi at their Chembani church.
“We have questioned several church leaders and they have revealed to us the marriage was for this Friday. It seems the pastor got wind of it,” said a leading investigative detective.
The pastor said Anne should first go back to her parents if she wanted to marry another man. He said he was also angered by Anne’s insistence that she would marry while in possession of their properties.
He revealed he first met Anne at Kiembeni Baptist Church 20 years ago. They were blessed with four children, three boys and a girl.
He narrated how he fulfilled both Taita (Anne’s community) and Maragoli (his community) traditional marriage requirements during dowry payment.
He stated how they started from scratch and that at one point, he had to do menial jobs, including pushing a cart. They later opened a timber business, which they jointly ran with his wife.
He ended the note by saying he was still alive and that he was in church. He asked his wife to go ahead with her wedding, saying the shame he went through would haunt those who were against him.
Credit : SDE News
