The family of the-bride-to be who was shot dead on Monday while shopping for wedding rings has suffered a series of misfortunes in the last two years.
In what looks like a jinx, Ms Beatrice Adhiambo Nyaoke, 32, died months after her sister died in a road accident in Kisumu. The sister was with her husband who survived the accident.
Although on Monday, Beatrice’s husband escaped after three gunmen shot her and her brother-in-law in a shop on Kaunda Street, Nairobi, Mr Ayub Nyaoke, the brother-in-law, who was taken to hospital, died while being treated.
According to Mr Newton Nyaoke, the groom, three tall men in jackets entered Italian Maru Shop on Kaunda Street, ordered them to raise their hands and give them everything they had.
“As I put my hand in the pocket, they shot my wife and my brother, miraculously, I survived,” recalled Mr Nyaoke.
He added: “Maybe God did not want both of us to die, someone had to remain to take care of our children.”
He said the wedding, which was to be held on Saturday, had been rescheduled a number of times for various reasons. “We had planned for this wedding for a long time. She has gone before I gave her the gift she always wanted,” he mourned.
Mr Nyaoke said Beatrice, with whom he had lived for many years, was in an exceptionally good mood on Monday.
“She was extra happy. She prepared the children’s lunch and told them that she will be back,” the widower recalled.
After attending the burial of a family friend’s child at Lang’ata Cemetery, they headed to town where they had lunch at a restaurant on Tom Mboya Street. “We ate her favourite meal of chips,” he recalled.
“She ate two plates of chips and I joked that her hunger required ugali,” he said.
The two then went to withdraw Sh8,000 on Mfangano Street for the rings and a pair of shoes. Nyaoke still has the money.
In the company of his brother, the two headed to the shop. “We went past the Stanley Hotel and Ebrahims Electronics to the shop,” he narrated.
As they were fitting the rings, the three men stormed in “Almost immediately they started shooting and I fell to the floor.”
When he got up he saw his wife and brother motionless on the floor bleeding. Both were shot in the head.
“The devil has come between us and now there is no wedding,” said Mr Nyaoke, distraught at the thought of raising his four children without their mother.
Shop owner Kanti Maru said three men walked in and one man stood at the entrance while his accomplices stood behind the couple.
“I crouched behind the counter praying,” he said still shaken from the tragedy. Then he heard the shots.
“They did not steal anything from the victims or the shop. It happened so fast, it was over in about three seconds. This shop sells imitation jewellery, shoes, nothing too expensive,” he added.-nation.co.ke
