Police in Nairobi are holding a 19-year-old student who is alleged to have killed her boyfriend, Wazito FC midfielder Kelvin Mugalla Ikatwa on Tuesday afternoon, following a domestic quarrel at their home in Kangemi.
The deceased was a Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Nairobi and also played for the National Super League side.
25-year-old Ikatwa, who was fondly known as Razor, lost his life after his girlfriend whom he was staying with stabbed him after they disagreed on a Facebook post.
Confirming to CapitalFM, Nairobi Police boss Japheth Koome said she was due to be arraigned in court on Wednesday to be charged with murder.
“The girl has been arrested and is in custody. She will go to court for the wrong she has committed,” Koome said.
In a press statement, the University of Nairobi’s Wazito Football Club, mourned him as a polished midfielder who was disciplined and committed player since joining the team from Tena FC in 2012.
“Kelvin held Wazito in his heart and gave his all for the betterment of the club and his professional growth,” the club added.
Head coach Francis Xavier revealed to CapitalFM they got the shocking news just as they were preparing for training.
“A Kangemi United player who lives nearby called me to confirm the sad news. It started from an alleged post made by the girlfriend on Facebook which annoyed Ikatwa.”
“The players have a WhatsApp group and he posted there that he was going to confront the girl over what she had posted. His team mates tried to tell him to let it go and come for training but he maintained he was going to confront the girl.”
“The entire Langata Gremio FC family would like to send our condolences to the family,friends and the entire Wazito FC fraternity. It was only Saturday that we played against him.”
“When he went silent in the group, they tried calling him constantly until the girlfriend picked up and admitted to have murdered Ikatwa. Everyone was in shock and we stopped the training,” Xavier, the former AFC Leopards Team Manager explained.
The sentiments were shared by the club patron Solomon Alubala. “He was not a temperamental person and when you see it getting to this point, then it must have been something very serious. We are saddened as a team but we will not say much because it is now in the hands of the police,” Alubala disclosed.
Wazito were resuming training at their Nairobi Primary School base after a gym session on Monday which Ikatwa did not attend as he had an evening class.
He had played for Wazito’s two pre-season friendly matches against Young Rovers FC and Lang’ata Gremio FC which the side won 1-0 and 4-1 consecutively.
Xavier has described him as an asset lost, one with whom he had huge plans for the new season.
The 2016 National Super League kick off this weekend where Wazito travel to Talanta FC in their season opener.
By Alex Isaboke
