Makueni woman captured on video being clobbered by husband speaks

Winfred Mwende at her sister's home. [ Stephen Nzioka, Standard]

A woman caught on camera being assaulted by her husband says she has no regrets over his jailing two months after he was put behind bars over the incident.

Winfred Mwende was captured on camera being battered by her husband, Daudi Nzomo, in a video that went viral and attracted the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who ordered his arrest.

Mr Nzomo was later jailed for 12 years.

The Standard caught up with Mwende at her older sister's home in Kithuki, Kathonzweni, last week. She has been living there with her three children.

Although she admits life has been tough over the past two months and she is yet to recover from injuries sustained in the violent attack that shocked the nation, she is grateful to be alive.

The scars on her head, face and legs, inflicted by the kicks and blows rained on her, remain a constant reminder of her pain at the hands of Nzomo.

Still raw

But although the physical injuries are healing, her emotional wounds are still raw from years of being in an abusive relationship.

On the day The Standard visited, Mwende was alone at home, seated on a blue plastic chair under a tree next to a makeshift granary.

Orphaned at a tender age, she had nowhere else to go other than her sister’s home. Hellen Muli is her only sibling.

There was an unnerving silence not only in the homestead but the entire surrounding area. Here, households are far apart and thanks to the unforgiving sun, there is little activity.

Winfred Mwende's husband Daudi Nzomo was jailed for 12 years for physically abusing her.

Mwende narrated how she met Nzomo in Nairobi's South B estate in 2004. Then, she was working as a shop attendant.

Nzomo was then working as a farm hand in Mbooni but would regularly visit his employer in South B.

The two fell in love and got married the same year under Kamba customary laws.

Mwende then moved to her matrimonial home in Kangondi village while her husband quit his job in Mbooni, opting to do menial jobs to provide for his young wife.

They had three children now aged 13, 12 and 10.

For some time the couple lived well and Nzomo dutifully provided for his family.

But the couple's happily-ever-after tale was interrupted in 2013, when Nzomo became violent after Mwende opposed his decision to marry a second wife.

"He started having unexplained bouts of anger and would beat me and the children. We spent nights in the cold on the countless times he threatened to kill us. He would even beat up his parents and chase them while wielding a machete," she said.

When the beatings became too much to bear, Mwende would hide at her sister’s place but Nzomo would get wind of her whereabouts, follow her and force her to return home.

"Once after I had run away with the last child, then aged two years, he came and forcibly took the child. When we reported the matter to the local administration he was arrested but the chief advised me to leave the marriage. How I wish I heeded the advice. I wouldn’t be in this predicament," she said.

In July 2013, Nzomo took a second wife against Mwende's wishes and life changed for the worse. He momentarily stopped working and it was left up to his wives to provide for him and the children.

Medical expenses

Although Mwende's medical expenses are all taken care of by the hospital, Mwende has to cater for her own transport expenses and relies on her jobless sister to provide for her and her children.

“We rely on my sister’s husband, who is a conductor, to provide us with the fare," she said.

Many promises were made when Mwende's case was highlighted, including one to get her enrolled in a Government-funded programme under the Ministry of Gender, but this has not happened.

She has also not got any assistance from the county government.

Her sister said life had changed since Mwende and her three children came to stay with her.

"I'm using Sh1,000 weekly, up from Sh500, on upkeep," said Ms Muli.