A tragedy or two may strike a family once in a while. But the series of misfortunes that have stalked one family in Nyandarua County have stretched everyone’s shock to eerie levels.
On the cold, misty evening of June 12, 1998, an angry man stormed the home of his father-in-law, Geoffrey Ngware in the sleepy Mukeu village, Nyandarua County, and slashed to death four family members.
Ms Njoki whose mother, brother, sister and a niece were killed by an enraged relative in 1998, displays a copy of Taifa Leo which reported the gruesome killings.
Photo credit: Macharia MWangi | Nation Media Group
Armed with a machete and a sword, the raving man, aged 35 back then, first attacked his estranged wife, killing her and their baby on the spot.
The woman’s brother, responding to a distress call, was also killed in the brazen attack.
“My brother had managed to disarm the killer but he whipped out a sword, fatally stabbing him in the stomach,” said a family member, Ms Rose Njoki Ngware.
A member of Mzee Ngware's family (centre) is consoled following the shocking murders by a son-in-law in June 1998.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
As the bloodletting continued, the killer spotted his mother-in-law approaching the compound from a nearby stream, where she had gone to fetch water.
“My mother managed to run for a few metres before the frenzied killer caught up with her. He slashed her on the neck several times, killing her,” said Ms Njoki as she laid bare the family’s seemingly endless tragedies.
Another of Njoki’s sisters escaped with serious injuries. However, when the four bodies were being taken to Naivasha Sub-County Hospital mortuary, the injured woman was lumped together with the lifeless bodies, only for a hawk-eyed mortuary attendant to discover that she was still breathing.
She spent several months in hospital, before she was finally discharged. She remained traumatised until she breathed her last in 2017. She never spent a night at their home since that ill-fated evening.
The late Mzee Geoffrey Githui Ngware walks to a neighbour's home in 1998 to look for shelter following the shocking murders at his home.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The killer, Dan Kamau, also faced an equally painful death. A day after the macabre killings that left the largely quiet village shell-shocked, a mob descended on Kamau and lynched him.
According to Ms Njoki, a primary school teacher in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, Kamau and her sister had had a stormy relationship that really worried the family.
After his wife had left him, Kamau had reportedly pleaded with her and they had reconciled, only to differ bitterly a few months later.
“Theirs was a frosty relationship and at one time I invited my sister to come over and stay with me in Eldoret, away from the wrath of her abusive husband,” said Ms Njoki.
As she recalled the events of slightly over two decades ago, Ms Njoki clutched a copy of Taifa Leo , which carried the story of the chilling murders. Published in the publication, alongside the story, is a photo of their distraught father deep in thought.
Ms Njoki slowly trudges to the mass grave where the four were buried. For a moment, she stops her recollection, stares blankly at the burial site, almost in a trance.
“They were all buried here after they were butchered…the incident hurts me to date,” she said, with teary eyes.
She disclosed that her father, who was in a wheelchair, witnessed the entire orgy.
Ms Njoki further revealed that the killer spared their father, saying he would not kill him that day.
She added that after the incident, their father went to Nakuru to stay with one of his daughters, Beatrice Njeri, before he died in 2001. He had vowed never to return to his home. And he never did until his death.
“He never recovered from the shock,” Ms Njoki continues.
It didn’t stop there. After the incident, Ms Njoki has lost five siblings, leaving the family feeling jinxed.
I8-year-old Margaret Wanjiku who lost both legs after she was run over by a train as she attempted to board.
Photo credit: Macharia Mwangi | Nation Media Group
It is, however, the most recent happening that has left the family on the edge.
“My niece was in September this year run over by a train she was trying to board, losing both of her legs,” states Ms Njoki.
Margaret Wanjiku, 18, told the Nation that her friends managed to hop into the moving train but she was a bit edgy. She inexplicably remained rooted at the boarding point.
“One of my friends insisted they would not leave me behind. As I attempted to get on-board with her assistance, I slipped and fell beneath the moving train,” she narrated.
The excruciating pain made her scream. Luckily, the crew managed to stop the train.
“But my legs were trapped and the rescue effort was an experience not to forget,” said Ms Wanjiku, who now uses a wheelchair.
It took more than three hours to take the injured girl to hospital, where one of her legs was amputated at the hip.
“The delay in getting the necessary help further complicated the situation,” she explained.
Although she spent more than 65 days in hospital, her ordeal has not dampened her spirits and sense of focus.
“I want to be a doctor. I will live to actualise my dreams,” she said, brimming with confidence.
The Form Three student’s dream can, however, take off if she gets a well-wisher to help her acquire prosthetic legs for mobility.
“I had given her permission to travel home and visit her mother, only for this to happen,” said the empathetic aunt.
“What is happening to us is simply confounding and everyone is worried,” added the primary school teacher.
She feels it’s time to reach out to their in-laws for a reconciliatory meeting, adding that they harbour no hard or ill-feelings towards them.
“I think it is high time the two families reconciled. What happened, though painful, is now water under the bridge,” she said.
The breadwinner of the family of more than 20 says she cannot fathom the streak of tragic happenings the family has witnessed over the past two decades.
The family of 11 has lost seven. The remaining are three daughters and a son. Among the survivors is Alice Wamaitha, whose daughter was maimed in the train incident.
