Kenyan Man Kills Wife For Joining Instagram, Pleads For Leniency: ‘I Am A Widower With No Family’

I Have No Family To Return To: Kenya Man Who Killed Wife For Joining Instagram Pleads For Leniency

A Kenyan man who stabbed his wife to death in a jealous rage because she joined Instagram has begged a court for mercy, citing the very tragedy he created. Murad Awadh Mbarak, now a convicted murderer, stood before the High Court in Mombasa and pleaded for a lighter sentence, arguing that the killing left him a desolate “widower with no family”—a direct result of his own fatal actions.

Mbarak, a 40-year-old truck driver, was found guilty in November for the murder of Nuru Ibrahim on 19 June 2022. The court heard that his wife’s decision to create an Instagram account consumed him with anger, which prosecutors say erupted into a planned and brutal attack at their Kilifi County home.

“Spending four years in prison has been a great lesson for me, and I ask for forgiveness for my sins,” Mbarak told the court.

His appeal hinged on a stark contradiction: using the profound loneliness he inflicted upon himself as grounds for judicial compassion. State prosecutors dismissed this plea, demanding the maximum sentence for a crime they argued was sparked by possessive fury over a social media profile.

‘He Was Consumed By Rage Over Her Instagram’

The prosecution presented a clear narrative where Instagram was the catalyst for violence. Witnesses, including family members, testified that Muruadh Mbarak was obsessively angered by his wife’s presence on the platform. Her activity on the app became the central focus of his accusations and control.

A relative stated in court, “Her Instagram was all he could talk about. He said it was disrespectful and it drove him mad.”

This fury reached its peak on the night of the murder. Prosecutors described how Mbarak not only carried out the stabbing but also sealed his wife’s fate by blocking assistance.

A prosecutor told the judge, “He prevented neighbours from intervening, and one person was injured while trying to gain access to the house.”

The Ultimate Irony: A Self-Made Widower’s Plea For Pity

The courtroom was presented with a profound irony: the perpetrator appealing for leniency by highlighting the devastating consequences he alone engineered. Mbarak’s claim of being a having no family was not an unforeseen tragedy but the deliberate, violent outcome of his own choices.

Evidence showed his campaign of control included threats directly linked to his jealousy. The court was told he weaponised the very intimacy he sought to monopolise.

According to trial testimony, “Mbarak had threatened to kill his wife or release intimate photographs if she attempted to leave him.”

Their 11-year-old daughter witnessed the fatal culmination of this control. The court must now judge whether the man who manufactured his own isolation through murder deserves sympathy for the emptiness he created.

Sentencing is scheduled for next month.