A friend from the Kenyan community, who declined to be named, said it was shocked at the incident.
"We last met in December and had a laugh and were having fun Police in Newzealand have launched a manhunt for a man believed to be Kenyan after the body of a dead male and a badly injured woman were found in a home in Christchurch on Monday evening. The woman's current condition in Christchurch Public Hospital is serious but stable.
Police were called to Burrows Place in the suburb of Ilam after there were concerns from friends who had not heard from her or her husband. The dead man is not believed to be the woman's husband.
The injured Kenyan woman found next to the body of a friend in Christchurch. Report from Newzealand says that she is in an induced coma as police try to track down her estranged husband, who has fled to Kenya.
The lady’s name is Lydiah Muthoni Munene, 34, and Police are waiting to speak to her as soon as she comes out of the coma. They are not naming the dead man, also a Kenyan, until a post mortem has been completed.The dead man was a friend of Ms munene and police hope to formally identify him and release his name this afternoon.
Police say a weapon was probably used in the killing, but are not saying what it was or if it has been recovered.
Ms Munene's estranged husband, Samuel Ngumo Njuguna, 39, flew to Kenya on Saturday, shortly after dropping off the children, aged nine and 13, at the home of a friend.
He is understood to have arrived in Kenya yesterday morning and police have alerted Interpol and Kenyan police to try to track him down.
Police have spoken to the children but have not yet spoken to the mother who is still in Christchurch Hospital in stable condition but with severe head injuries.The police said that they contacted the families of the deceased and Ms Munene and that they were devastated by the news
Police are now focusing the investigation on events on Friday night and early Saturday.
"We believe that the children were removed from Burrows Place sometime early on Saturday morning between midnight and 6am, by their father.
"It appears that this is also the likely time the two people were attacked in the house."
Police are also trying to track the movements of Mr Njuguna's red 1995 Peugot Saloon, registration TH438.
Investigations will also continue at Burrows Place and at Mr Njuguna's house in Patrick St. Police expect to be there for the next couple of days, Mr Williams said.
"The small Kenyan community in Christchurch has bonded together in support of each other and we are working closely with them as are support agencies," Mr Williams said.
Yesterday Interpol contacted the Kenyan High Commission in Canberra.
Mr Njuguna and Ms Munene have lived in New Zealand for many years.
Police may have difficulty in bringing Njuguna back to New Zealand because there is no extradition agreement with Kenya.
Mr Williams said it was unclear whether the relationship between the woman and the dead man had been beyond a friendship.
Ms Munene had recently started work as a nurse at Christchurch Hospital, The Press reported.
She was described as a "lovely, sympathetic" woman who had recently graduated as a nurse from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.
"She seems really, really nice and is making such a fantastic go of things," landlord Margaret Dawson said.
"I just feel so terribly shocked because she has made so much of an effort to make such a life for herself and her children. Her two boys are very tall, good-looking, charming, lively, intelligent and lovely."
Ms Munene had spoken "unfavourably" of Njuguna, she said.
