Two brothers saved by fate from fire that killed their elderly mother
Combined photos of Grace Wanjiku and her sons Francis Minai, 51, and James Mwangi, 48.
Doctors warn that going to bed late can have adverse effects on one’s health, but for two brothers Francis Minai, 51, and James Mwangi, 48, it helped them to be alive today.
The two, who shared a room, still lived in their mother’s house at Kirimiga village in Mathioya, Murang’a County. They are neither married nor have they built their own houses. They said their reasons are personal.
Another of the brothers Stephen Karoki said: "Things happen...It is all about personal choice...They are my elder brothers and they are the way they are. We as a family accept them unconditionally.”
Their mother’s house was petrol bombed on the night of September 28, and she died in the attack.
On the fateful night, Minai watched helplessly as their mother’s house was engulfed in fire. He screamed for help in an attempt to save her life. But sadly, Grace Wanjiku, 84, died in the blaze.
The scene where Grace Wanjiku died in a fire in Kirimiga village in Murang'a.
Mwangi told Nation.Africa that he had arrived home early from a nearby shopping centre where he had been taking drinks before the tragedy happened.
"I had some money which my sister had sent me to buy medicine because I was feeling unwell. But on reaching the shopping centre, I felt better and I decided to ‘celebrate’ instead with some drinks," he said.
Mr Mwangi said that his friends joined him and bought more alcohol and his sickness “disappeared completely”.
"It was some minutes past 10pm when I returned home and found my mother had cooked food for my brother and I. The food was placed in the room that I shared with my elder brother," he narrated.
Francis Minai left, and his brother James Mwangi at the site where their mother died in a fire.
He said his brother had eaten his share and had retired to bed when he arrived home. He too was drunk.
"After I ate, I reached into my pockets for a cigarette...It is an old habit for me to smoke after every meal. But I found out that I did not have a cigarette,” he said.
Maina asked his brother Minai whether he had a cigarette, but he responded in the negative.
"There was no way that I would sleep without smoking. I decided to go out and ask my friends in the neighbourhood. I walked towards a home which was 300 metres away where there was a funeral vigil. I hoped to get a cigarette from one of the mourners," Mr Mwangi recalled.
He left his brother rolling in bed; he sometimes broke into a song or made muttered incoherent words in his drunken stupor.
James Mwangi at the scene where his mother died in a fire.
"I staggered into the darkness and arrived at the homestead where I found a cousin of mine who gave me three cigarettes," Mr Mwangi said.
He did not return home immediately, but stayed back to dance to the music that was being played at the venue.
Back home, his brother Minai had developed an instinctive fear that made him get out of bed and leave the house.
"I just felt hot and became sweaty. I also felt an eerie fear that I could not comprehend. I thought it was the alcohol in my system. I rarely sleep while sober...I don't know why...It is like a spell," Minai told Nation.Africa.
He moved out of the house and went and sat near a granary that was 20 metres away.
"My mother was asleep and she had put out the lights. The night was dark and I felt better sitting outside. I contemplating going to funeral vigil but changed my mind when I remembered that my mother was all alone in the house," he said.
He said that while he was still seated outside, he heard something like the sound of footsteps behind the house.
"It was some minutes to midnight. The thought of someone walking towards me made me feel nervous. I crouched on ground and moved to a darker side in the compound where I could not be seen easily," he said.
Squinting his eyes in the pitch darkness, Mr Minai said he is convinced he saw a silhouette of a person near the window of his mother's bedroom.
Francis Minai at the site where his mother died in a fire in Kirimiga village, Murang'a County.
"I called out the name of my brother to check if he had returned home, but no one answered. I decided to inspect the compound. I started moving towards the pit latrine when I saw smoke billowing out of my mother's bedroom," he said.
Mr Minai said that he froze momentarily and the alcohol in his body “evaporated”.
"I ran towards the main door that leads into my mother's bedroom...The house exploded into a huge ball of fire. The huge flames made the whole compound bright. I could not dare enter into the raving furnace," he said.
Confused, Mr Minai said that he rushed to the mother's bedroom window where he was met by more furious flames.
"I screamed at the top of my voice as I ran to our neighbours’ house and calling their names. Within no time people appeared and our compound was a flurry of activity," he said.
The screams and the flames had also attracted the people at the funeral vigil. Mr Mwangi was among the people who responded to the distress call and rushed to the scene.
Mwangi asked his brother what had happened, but there was time for explanations at that time. They urgently needed to put out the fire.
At around 1am, the fire had extinguished using of water, tree branches and sand.
In the aftermath, Ms Wanjiku’s body was found coiled on the ground. A mass of charred remains.
Police arrived from the nearby Gitugi police station, and they were informed about what had happened.
"I don't know how to take this incident. What if I had not left the house to get a cigarette? Certainly, I would have died in that inferno. But I survived the tragedy and my mother died, there is reason for celebration," Mr Mwangi said.
For his part, Mr Minai believes that the fire was deliberately started by an arsonist.
"I feel like blaming my alcohol...I think I would have responded better if I was sober. But again, had I been sober would I have left my bed and house? It is fate. Maybe I would have died in that fire. Maybe if my brother and I were sober, we would all have been roasted alive in the fire together with our mother," Mr Minai said.
The two brother said that they are now homeless orphans since their father died 20 years ago.
"Our home was completely destroyed by the fire...Our mother who loved us is gone. We will have to start from the scratch," Mr Minai said.
Another brother, Stephen Ngunjiri, said that the family has been embroiled in a bitter land dispute with a neighbour since 1987.
A police report by Mathioya Sub-County Director of Criminal Investigations officer Mr Muriithi Muriungi said that Ms Wanjiku was burnt to death.
“When our officers arrived at the scene, they found that members of the public had put out the fire, and an elderly woman had been burnt to death. The body was found in a coiled position away from the bed, an indication that she had attempted to escape but her bedroom door was locked from outside. From the position where her body was recovered, she most probably died while trying to open the door,” the report reads in part.
The matter has been cited as Pending Under Investigations. However, no crime experts have been sent to the crime scene to conduct investigations or collect samples for forensic analysis.
“The security team only sent a police vehicle and three officers to collect the body which was taken to a mortuary in Kangema. The officers told us that we were free to go and report about the fire at Kiria-ini police station,” a village elder Mr Gerald Kamau said.
When Nation.Africa visited the home a week later, the scene had not yet been secured.
Mathioya Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner Mr Kiplagat Tarus remained optimistic that they would get to the bottom of the matter.
“We are on course, I am sure the DCI will get to the root cause of this matter…We are committed to delivering results,” he said.
A post-mortem conducted on October 4 revealed that Ms Wanjiku suffered 70 percent burns and her lungs had erupted after she inhaled a lot of carbon monoxide.
Ms Wanjiku’s family remains hopeful that justice will be done.
“As we wait for the authorities to give us an answer, we will bury our mum who was a committed Christian. Above all, we leave everything in the hands of God whose deeds supersede all human understanding,” Mr Ngunjiri said.
