Woman found hanging in a cell

Arusha. A woman who allegedly torched her matrimonial house last weekend was found hanging while in police custody. Sources close to the police said Victoria Wenga succumbed after she was found hanging in a police cell early Wednesday.

The woman was arrested after she was apprehended for setting ablaze her family home at Lemara ward south east of Arusha early on Sunday.

It is alleged she torched the residential home with petrol and tried to escape from the scene of the crime in a taxi. She was however nabbed by neighbours before she could escape and handed over to the police. Her husband Edward Wenga was not at home at the time the house caught fire.

Further accounts from the scene had it that the woman was enraged by reports that her husband had sired a child out of wedlock. Although her demise was confirmed by the regional police commander Charles Mkumbo, the circumstances surrounding her death, however were not clear.

Some residents questioned how she managed to hang herself without the knowledge of other inmates.

Unconfirmed information said she died as she was rushed to the hospital from the central police station