I killed my mum and five children

 Matata and his wife after his presidential pardon

Joshua Ndonye Matata looks oddly out of place in his stripped prison uniform. If you did not know his backstory, you would swear that he was in the wrong place. His daily life revolves in the confines of Kamiti Maximum Prison. He is perched on a rickety chair in the prison yard. A cat sits on his lap, and he obliviously strokes it. The gesture seems so gentle and loving, and totally misplaced in a place where many expect gruff and mean.

But the fact is, Joshua Ndonye Matata has records, and not good ones at that. One is a criminal record, and the other is a record as one of Kenya's most murderous fathers.

Until the fateful night of May 27th, 1987 Joshua was just another young father in Kawasake, Machakos. A young father who spent most of his evenings drinking. He was a heavy drinker of the local brew, spending hours at the local bars.

But that night something snapped, seemingly, without prior warning.

"I volunteered for some duties at the school my children attended....after that I went to drink some traditional liquor with my friend, Mativo Ndusi." Joshua told Dennis Onsarigo, during a Case Files interview. "We left for his home where we drunk some more ... I cannot remember going home."

He pauses for a beat, deep in thought, before continuing.

"I cannot remember how they died. I cannot even remember how I returned home after my drinking-spree. I only came to my senses when I was told that I had murdered my family members."

Joshua spent part of that night killing his five children and mother. This was after feasting on boiled chicken, prepared by his wife, Beatrice Mboli.

When Dennis asks, Joshua recites, matter-of-factly, the names of his dead children; Nzomo, Ndonye, Faith, Ndolo and Malinda.

"We had already retired to bed when my husband arrived home drunk," Beatrice narrated. "He woke me up and demanded that I serve him food. He asked what we had cooked. Then he went out, slaughtered a chicken, and I cooked for him. We sat and watched him eat."

"He then said to me, 'Today I have planned to kill you.' When I asked him why, he replied that he had a strong conviction that that was what he wanted to do."

Joshua then turned on his wife with blows and kicks, and she ran away. At the time, Beatrice was expectant.

"When I returned in the morning, I saw that all the children were lying on the ground, dead!" Beatrice said, tears of pain streaming down her face.

Many parents have their favourite children, although they may not show it. Faith, the lastborn child in Joshua's family of five, was her father's pet. She was the last to die, most probably not knowing what hit her, because she was asleep when her father turned against her.

"There was a little girl who loved me, and I loved her," Joshua said. "Her name was Faith. In fact, I loved my family, and I regret it to date."

The murders were coldblooded. Faith had a deep cut on the back of her head, Malinda had a broken neck, Ndolo had a deep cut on the head, while Nzomo had a deep cut on the left eye. The last victim, Ndonye had a deep cut on the head and his brains were dripping out. Apart from his mother, the rest of his victims were sound asleep.

Very soon after, Joshua's name hit the headlines, with one local paper's headline screaming: "Man charged with killing six in family." And just like that, the small village of Kawasake, Machakos was on the lips of every social commentator, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

In his defence, Joshua told the court that he killed his children and mother while under the influence of alcohol.

However, Joshua's wife claimed that he was under the influence of dark otherworldly powers, which were beyond him. Granted, witchcraft is rampant in some parts of Ukambani. But when Beatrice threw this dark spanner into the already bloody works, it made for great fodder, especially when Ndonye said that he had temporary amnesia, and could not remember killing his children and mother.

"The Word of God has changed me. I want to tell the President to give me another chance. I met Jesus Christ here in prison and I am a changed man."

Joshua  appealed, but the court said that he was a killer and deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison. For his wife and two remaining sons, life had to go on.

"I blame witchcraft for the brutal murders," Beatrice said. "It has everything to do with land disputes, and had nothing to do with anger or drinking. I have forgiven my husband because I realised that he did not know what he was doing."

Scholars who have extensively dealt with filicide cannot buy his argument. And, although the law is an ass, neither can a judge.

Susan Friedman, et al, in their analytical study, "Fathers Who Kill Their Children", noted that "roughly half of filicidal acts are committed by fathers. Fathers who killed their children were, on average, in their mid-thirties. The mean age of their victims was five. They may have multiple victims. Sons and daughters are killed in equal numbers. Reasons included death related to abuse, mental illness (including psychosis and depression), and revenge against a spouse. The method often involved wounding violence."

Except for blaming alcohol and witchcraft, Joshua ticked all the boxes above.

Four years later, as was expected, the judge trashed Joshua's argument that he was drunk thus unaware of what he transpired that night, as he had stated in his unsworn statement to the police about what transpired on the May 27, 1987.

The high court judge, Justice Edward Torgbor said that Joshua was aware of his actions on the material day.

"As nothing has been said by the accused or defence to show or even suggest that Joshua Matata was insane though drinking at the time of the incident, this court is unable to find or conclude that the accused was so insane when he killed Nzomo ... this court finds that Joshua Matata was capable of and did form the intention to kill the deceased."

A police officer who testified in the 1991 murder trial told the court that he discovered the bodies covered with half-burnt grass, and there was a boiled chicken lying near the fireplace. "Outside the kitchen, I found a human leg covered in blood," he said.

Perhaps the state of the bodies may say something about Joshua's state of mind. Psychologists opine that fathers who commit filicide, and then cover or try to conceal the bodies of their victims, are doing this because of pangs of guilt and shame.

Joshua, now an old man could have been a grandfather now, enjoying his sunset years with his grandchildren. He however spent many years counselling and transforming the lives of other inmates.

In December 2015, Matata was among the prisoners who were set free following an amnesty by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

His wife welcomed him back and they are now peacefully settled in their home in Ukambani.