Kenyan woman attacked in New Zealand out of coma

Police are yet to arrest a Kenyan man who fled New Zealand last week on the day his estranged wife was found seriously injured and her male Kenyan friend murdered.

Mr Samuel Ngumo Njuguna is believed to have entered Kenya, but is yet to be traced.

His estranged wife, Lydia Muthoni Munene, has meanwhile regained consciousness and might narrate what happened to her and her murdered companion. She has been visited twice in hospital by her 13 and nine-year old sons.

A funeral service was held on Saturday for her friend, Mr Steven Maina Mwangi, and the body is due to arrive in Kenya this week.

Mr Njuguna, 40, is reported to have fled from New Zealand two weeks ago.

The police spokesman, Mr Eric Kiraithe, confirmed that they had received a request from New Zealand police asking them to trace Mr Njuguna who is believed to have arrived in Kenya last week.

Doctors in Christchurch Hospital said Ms Munene opened her eyes and moved her feet according to the spokesman of the Kenyan community in the area, Mr Mathenge Iratho.

The two sons had earlier collected their mother’s nursing certificate during a graduation ceremony at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology.

Mr Njuguna is being sought for questioning after his estranged wife was found in a coma with serious head injuries.

Her companion, Mr Mwangi, who had only arrived in New Zealand last October, was found murdered in Burrow Place, Avonhead.

The woman and the man who was killed were attacked in Ms Muthoni’s house.

Mr Mwangi was a refrigeration company worker in Ashburton while Ms Munene, 34, had trained as a nurse at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and had just joined Christchurch hospital.

The wanted man is reported to have earlier in the day visited his estranged wife in Christchurch and taken away their two sons. He took them to a friend’s house. He then went to a travel agency in Shirley where he bought air tickets to travel to Kenya.

He travelled from Christchurch International Airport through Auckland, Sydney in Australia and Bangkok, Thailand, before arriving in Kenya last Monday.

New Zealand and Kenya do not have an extradition agreement although they are members of the Commonwealth.

The couple’s children have already been interviewed by detectives.

At the same time, a 20-year-old pregnant woman has been left pondering her fate after being abandoned by her husband in Nakuru Town.

Ms Jarida Zainabu said she had nowhere to sleep after property agents locked up the rented house where her husband left her two months ago.

“We had not paid rent for a month and my husband gave out his phone as security. A few days later he left for work and never came back,” she said.

Ms Zainabu, who is six months pregnant, said she had been married to the man for eight months, but she was yet to be introduced to his parents or visit the husband’s rural home in Thika.

The young woman said she escaped from her home in Lwanda, Western Kenya, because she could no longer put up with her father.

“My mother died while delivering in 1999 and my father is a drunkard. I decided to escape to Nakuru and look for a job as a house-help,” she said.

Ms Zainabu said she changed from one home to the other due to abuse by her employers.

Speaking to the Nation in Nakuru, she said she opted for marriage after her efforts to look for a good employer failed.

Meanwhile, a Kenya Power and Lighting Company employee is admitted to the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital with serious burns after her husband scalded her with hot water.

Medics at the hospital said the woman sustained 36 per cent burns on her face, left breast, arm, abdomen, thighs and back.

Been separated

The woman, who had been separated from her husband, for a month said her spouse of nine years came to her house drunk and uninvited and started quarrelling her.

The victim said she was boiling githeri (a mixture of beans and maize) and her husband wanted to know who gave her the maize.

She said her husband also wanted to know who was buying necessities for the family.

“Not wanting to fight back, I kindly told him that a neighbour had given me the maize and that I used my salary to buy essentials for the family,” said the mother of four.

Speaking from her hospital bed, the woman said her husband scooped water for the boiling githeri and splashed it on her. “He fetched some more water and splashed it on my back as I was running out of the kitchen,” she said.

The man was later arrested and is being held at the Nakuru Central Police Station awaiting prosecution.

Additional reporting by Wanjiru Macharia