A man from Mukwa village in Kabuchai constituency Bungoma County on Wednesday tried to kill his wife and his six children by lighting up their house with petrol after a domestic squabble.

Police officers in Bungoma with CID officers have launched a manhunt for the forty-five-year-old man who has since gone into hiding after the botched incident.

It's alleged that Robert Fwamba was drunk lit fire in the house after pouring petrol all over the house with the intention of killing all his entire family.

Neighbors quickly intervened and helped put off the fire with Fwamba escaping with minor burn injuries.

Catharine Nangila the wife of the man said that her husband had told her about his plans to kill the family with fire but she had not taken his threats seriously.

She said that her husband had told her that he had been planning to kill her and the kids for a while now and he was ready to make true his threats.

‘When he was telling me all this he was already holding a matchbox in his hand with some of the petrol and he immediately lit up the house with the children inside,’ she said.

She said that she screamed with her children before neighbors came to their rescue with water sand and twigs and helped put out the fire.

Neighbor Alfred Wekesa told journalists who visited the home on Wednesday that that was not the first time Fwamba had tried to execute his family after the domestic dispute between him and his wife.

He said that the two have always quarreled in front of the children when Fwamba is drunk.

‘This is not the first time we are seeing this incident in this village it should be the fourth time this man has tried to kill his family we want police to arrest him and charge him,’ he said.

Among the items that were burned ion the house is his motorcycle and other items as some were saved when the fire was put off.

Cases of domestic violence have been reported to be on increase across the county with experts blaming them on the increase in cost of living.

BRIAN OJAMAA/The Star