By Paul Kariuki
Drama unfolded in Umoja Phase Two at the Chief’s Office, Lanet Ward, Nakuru County, when brother and sister almost came to blows following a twist in a case when odds appeared stacked against the sister.
The sister had accused a blind cobbler, Peter Njoroge, who operates at the Karemenu trading centre along busy Lanet - Dondori Road of attempting to rape her daughter. The cobbler reported the matter to the area chief, Francis Kariuki, after the complainant made threats to his life.
Word has it that the woman’s daughter, a Standard Eight pupil at Tabuga Primary School, had made fun of the blind cobbler by poking him on the face.
This ired the man who warned her using expletive language, which made her walk home crestfallen. She reported the uncle’s threats to her mother.
The fuming single mother of five came and read the cobbler a riot act and called him a prostitute. She warned him of dire consequences which among others, entailed hiring hit men to ‘fix him good and proper.’
“Ndahota gukugutha makofi maitho macio maku mahingoke (I may as well as slap you until those blind eyes open up!)” charged the woman at the cobbler.
Solomonic wisdom
Key witness to this altercation was a female shopkeeper fondly known as Mama Njeri. The cobbler operates under the eaves of her shop and had helped him file the case against the woman at the chief’s office. The shopkeeper happens to be a friend of the woman’s brother.
When summoned to chief’s office, the woman claimed the shopkeeper had instructed the cobbler to rape her daughter and she’d aid him by pinning her to the ground. She couldn’t sustain this nor produce witnesses to back her.
The chief was dispensing his Solomonic wisdom to these hostile neighbours when a ruckus arose in his office. The woman charged at her brother claiming he and the shopkeeper were clandestine lovers.
She said they’d colluded against her after the brother, with the help of the shopkeeper, sold a family piece of land. The two, she claimed, shared the proceeds amongst themselves.
