'My husband ran over me twice with matatu after hurling me out'

A woman has accused her husband of running over her with a matatu after he accused her of infidelity.

Margaret Wambui, 37, who has been detained at Nairobi Women's Hospital for four months over a Sh700,000 bill, claims she was attacked by her husband, Stephen Gichuhi on February 18, this year.

Mr Gichuhi was then a matatu driver plying the Wangige-Kiambu route. The mother of four claims he asked her to accompany him to visit a neighbour but instead drove to the home of a politician he accused her of having a relationship with.

The politician confirmed to The Standard that the couple visited his house at around 7pm.

"They found me unpacking things from my car. I asked them if they needed any help. I thought they had come, just like many other constituents, looking for help. The man said the person they had come to see was not there. He then directed his wife to get into the matatu," the politician said.

Ms Wambui said they had a confrontation outside the politician's home as her husband accused her of having an affair with the man. She said he warned that he would not share her with other men while he was still alive and sped off.

"After a few metres, he opened the passenger door and violently pushed me out. I was not expecting this and clung desperately to the door which was swinging. Then I fell."

When Wambui fell, Gichuhi reportedly stopped the matatu, reversed and ran over her right leg, crushing it. He reversed again and drove over the leg a second time.

Julius Kimani was driving by and claims to have witnessed the incident. "I was coming from the highway and had just branched into a feeder road. Then I saw a speeding matatu. The driver pulled over and started reversing as if he was looking for a way out as my vehicle was blocking the exit.

"I saw a woman clinging to the door of the matatu but then she fell. The driver reversed and ran over the woman's leg."

Kimani jumped out of the vehicle screaming as the matatu driver ran over the woman's leg a second time.

"I ran towards the driver and who started attacking me with his car keys but with the help of my brother, Joseph Maina, we subdued him, grabbed the keys and forced him to sit in the back of the vehicle."

Kimani said his brother took charge of the matatu as he remained at the scene. And when he asked Gichuhi whether he had money as they were going to Kikuyu Hospital, he said he had no money.

"I reassured him not to worry as I would show him where the money would come from. As I slowed down at some bumps before entering Kikuyu Police Station, he opened the door and vanished," said Maina.

He said that at the police station there was no time to record a statement as the woman was screaming in pain. The two police officers at the report desk accompanied them to Kikuyu Hospital.

Wambui's mother, Mary Nyambura, said she received the news the next day that her daughter had been admitted to Kikuyu Hospital.

The victim's mother claimed that police at Kikuyu Police Station have never recorded the incident in the Occurrence Book and issued an "irrelevant" P3 form not captured in their records.

When she went to the police a few days later, she found the matatu had been released to Gichuhi who has never been arrested.

Ms Nyambura said her daughter was admitted in hospital for two months and re-admitted at Nairobi Women's Hospital after the leg developed complications.

She said even after traffic police at the station wrote a report, they said the incident was an accident.

"When I demanded the OB number, they gave me the wrong one referenced 46/18/2016. And after going to several offices within the police station, I realised the OB was recorded in reference to six people who had been arrested for being drunk and causing disturbance," Nyambura said.

Kikuyu OCPD Brigen Kiptoo said the injury was as a result of a domestic violence, not an accident.

"Both the accused and the victim gave conflicting statements. There were only two people in the vehicle and this is a complicated case," he said.

The politician said the infidelity allegation was being used by his rivals to finish him politically.