Help our ‘suicidal’ mum, Tuju’s twins ask court

By David Odongo

Raphael Tuju’s daughters have asked a city court to send their mother to a mental institution.

In court documents seen by The Nairobian, the twins – Alma and Yma – say they want the court to place their mother, Ruth Akinyi, under psychiatric care by a doctor since she is “tired of life and is contemplating suicide”.

In a matter filed under a certificate of urgency at the High Court, Alma and Yma claim their mother is a danger to herself because she has told people close to her that she is considering ending her life.

“Akinyi has assaulted watchmen at the family premises as well as her house servants, and … has treated and behaved towards Alma and Yma in a manner that suggests she is in need of psychiatric evaluation and help,” the court papers say.

Almas says: “In the month of November 2012, our mother took a suitcase of full clothes belonging to me and hid it for two months and when asked why she was doing that, she said she was doing it to teach me a lesson, but could not say what I had done wrong. I found her conduct in that instance to be out of the norm.

“In the same period, she ordered both I and my sister to leave home and in her words, ‘to go search for husbands’ and tried to harass us so that we could leave the residence. Earlier in the year, 2013, she instructed Anthony Ogunda (her alleged former boyfriend), now deceased, that I should be beaten where I used to hang out with friends in Westlands because I was not respectful to her.”

The young women further claim that in February 2013, their mother went home “very drunk”.

When Alma told her she could not drive out, Akinyi grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her, the papers say.

Almas says she was rescued (from her) by her father Tuju and a medic.

She further says: “My sister Yma too has been on the receiving end of her abnormal behaviour, some of which is particularised as follows: Our mother poured water on her computer and spoilt it totally, and they reconciled later when she paid 500 dollars so that the computer could be replaced,”

In their plea to the court, the twins say: “The respondent is a danger to the public as she is prone to fits of rage, and has attacked her servants among other people. As a result of her uncontrolled anger, she has been charged in court and the hearing of a criminal case is pending.”

They say that it would be violation of her rights if she is subjected to a criminal trial yet she urgently needs psychiatric help.

Tuju’s daughters say they had lived well with their mother in the family’s home until she started to abuse alcohol. Her actions then became “erratic, unpredictable and abnormal”.