I didn’t have anywhere to go: Abused woman says

A domestic violence victim Evelyne Mwende is consoled by a relative at her Makueini Level four hospital bed on 1st August, 2018 .Mwende was allegedly beaten up by her husband in a domestic row. [Photo: Standard]

A woman caught on tape being beaten up by a man said to be her husband claims she has been living in an abusive relationship.

In the video that went viral on Tuesday, a man, only identified as Nzomo, is pictured raining kicks, blows and slaps on the woman in Kitonyini, Kya-ka location, Makueni County. 

In the clip, some people are heard pleading with the man to stop beating the woman identified as Evelyn Mwende, but doing little to help her.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has since ordered the arrest and prosecution of Mr Nzomo.

“The DPP has directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to immediately have (the) suspect arrested and arraigned before court,” read a tweet from the office of the DPP on Tuesday.

Haji further directed that those who watched and participated in the brutality being meted on the defenceless woman be arrested and arraigned in court.

Speaking from her hospital bed at Makueni Level Four yesterday, Ms Mwende said her husband had been mistreating her, but she had been holding on to the marriage because she had nowhere else to go.

“He has been assaulting me most of the time, but because I was for the marriage, I persevered till this happened to me,” she narrated amid sobs.

Second wife

Mwende’s sister Hellen Mumbua said the couple began having problems after Mwende’s husband married a second wife in 2013.

She said Mwende would often flee her matrimonial home when Nzomo beat her. She sought refuge at Mumbua’s house in Kithuki, Kathonzweni location.

The suspect’s mother has also claimed that she began noticing changes in her son after he married a second wife.