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Lydiah Munene - Source: ONE News -
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Police have contacted authorities in Kenya in what has become an international manhunt after the death of a man in Christchurch.
The names of the couple involved in the homicide were released by police on Wednesday morning.
Lydia Munene was found in her Avonhead home on Monday night with serious head injuries.
Her estranged husband, Samuel Ngumo left the country for Kenya on Sunday, shortly after dropping off the children, aged nine and 13, at the home of a friend and police have alerted Interpol to try and track him down.
Munene was lying next to the body of a male friend. It is believed the two may have been in the house undiscovered for a number of days.
Munene is in Christchurch Hospital and was put into an induced coma on Wednesday morning.
The body of the man remains at the house as police try to piece together what happened. He has not yet been named.
Friends raised the alarm after becoming concerned at not seeing Munene.
Police broke into the house on Monday night and found the couple in a bedroom, the man dead on the floor and Munene lying injured on a bed.
"We are unsure what has occurred between late Friday and Sunday morning ... there are indications that the husband may be involved," the officer in charge, Detective Inspector Greg Williams, says.
Williams says a weapon was probably used in the killing, but would not say what it was or whether police had recovered it.
Munene and her two children moved to the house in Burrows Place four weeks ago after she separated from her husband. They had lived in New Zealand for many years.
Ngumo is understood to have already arrived in Kenya.
Williams says it is unclear what the relationship between Munene and the dead man had been beyond a friendship.
Police have not yet been able to speak with Munene, but had spoken with the children.
"Supporting these kids whose mum's clearly not well in hospital and father has now left the country, is our key focus, just trying to support them through this," he says.
Williams says police were called to the address two weeks earlier when the husband and wife had an argument regarding their separation, although there had been no physical violence on that occasion.
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