Attack turned homecoming tragic after 22 years in exile

On August 8, 2004, Ngugi wa Thiong’o returned to the country where he was scheduled for a month-long tour of East Africa.

But three days later, tragedy struck.

Robbers broke into his highly-secured apartment, accosted him and sexually assaulted his wife, Njeeri. They also stole some of their valuable items.

About a year-and-a-half later in December 2006, three guards were sentenced to death for the violent incident. 

In 2012, the Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of Richard Kayago Maeta, Elias Sikuku Wanjala, and Peter Mulati Wafula.

The men were originally convicted by a trial magistrate and sentenced to hang. Wafula was additionally sentenced to 21 years in prison for rape.

“The offence of robbery with violence is notorious in Nairobi and must be discouraged by imposing stiffer penalties,” Principal Magistrate Julie Oseko said when passing sentence.

They also humiliated him with abuse and threats of physical harm, before raping Njeeri and snatching her wedding ring, money and other valuables. They also took time ransacking their apartment at a high-security hotel complex in the heart of Nairobi’s CBD.

‘’They did all sorts of acts of humiliation, including burning my face with cigarettes, then they tried to rape my wife Njeeri,’’ the author wrote after leaving a Nairobi hospital.

Prof Ngugi released a statement saying: “At around midnight four men arrived with guns, a machete and a huge wire cutter and demanded for money. My Njeeri gave them all she had, about $500. In the end, they took my laptop , my wedding ring and Njeeri’s jewelry.

The couple was attacked when he opened the door to see off Ngugi’s nephew, John Kiragu Chege.

Ngugi and his wife had just returned to Nairobi from Uganda. A tired Njeeri had retired to bed and left the two  men talking.

She was woken up by the commotion in the sitting room. But before she could do anything, two men dragged her into the sitting room and told them to surrender the money they had.

The magistrate said the attack was a normal case of robbery with violence, with no political overtones as Ngugi had alleged. He had told journalists that the attackers demanded to know if he was a member of the Mungiki sect.

The court then handed them a death sentence which still remains on Kenya’s statutes, but has not been used since perpetrators of a 1980s coup attempt were hanged. Reports say the three men have since died while serving their sentences.

Ngugi said he did not agree with the death sentence but welcomed the convictions, although he took issue with the magistrate’s ruling that there were no other responsible parties at large.

“She, the magistrate, had no right to say that, she had no basis to say that. It is wrong,” Ngugi told a news conference.

“The court’s astonishing ruling and opinion may well have given, however, unintentionally, comfort to those forces that had orchestrated the attack. It amounted to an unfounded exoneration of all forces connected with the attack,” Ngugi told the University of California Irvine News.

Before the attack, thousands of Kenyans excitedly cheered Ngugi’s return. Their  itinerary focused on the launch of his novel written in Gikuyu, Murogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow).

But on August 11, a few days after his much publicised arrival, the armed men who later turned out to be guards, viciously attacked and robbed the couple.

Despite the shock from the brutality that was visited on them, the couple remained strong and spoke about their ordeal after leaving hospital, despite East African Education Publishers Ltd (EAPL) that had invited them cancelling their itinerary.

Shortly after their ordeal, news reports quoted Ngugi saying: “The voice is still weak. But the spirit is strong.”

It was later reported that as Ngugi and Njeeri recovered in a Nairobi hospital, they watched nonstop coverage of the assault on television. Njeeri repeatedly heard her experience characterised as “attempted rape.”

Despite the traumatic experience they had gone through, Ngugi requested the EAPL to continue organising his itinerary in Kenya and Uganda, a few days after their release from hospital.

“Their spirits continued to shine through to thousands of Kenyans at every location as Njeeri spoke out about the rape,” wrote Irvine News, adding that the suffering brought home the full value of her professional experience.

During the hearing of the case, Ngugi and his wife were asked by the State to testify in private against his cousin, the three guards, and John Kiragu Chege, who was also treated as the main suspect but was later released.