Early last year, Kenyans were stunned when a 56-year-old woman moved to court to sue her step grandchild aged 24 for snatching her hus...
Early last year, Kenyans were stunned when a 56-year-old woman moved
to court to sue her step grandchild aged 24 for snatching her husband.
The family feud had reportedly been brewing for three years before
spilling out.
Grace Mwende accused Florence Nduku of insulting her
through a chain of text messages after allegedly starting an intimate
relationship with her husband, Daniel Mwongela, 61.
Nduku is facing six counts of misusing a communication gadget. Some
of the text messages
received between July 12, 2013 and early 2015
referred to Mwende as an “old hag” who “could not satisfy the old man”
and that she lost her “sweetness a long time ago,” thus it was her
(Nduku’s) turn to enjoy the old man’s “honey.”
She also reportedly insulted Mwende that she is a witch and husband snatcher who once sold herself in five-star hotels.
She denied the charges and was set free on a Sh100,000 cash bail or bond of Sh300,000 with a surety of a similar amount.
But in an unexpected turn of events, Nduku has changed her mind in
court and confessed that Mwongela proposed to her and she was unhappy to
share him with her granny Mwende.
“I acted out of anger and I’m very sorry. I was sharing a man with
Mwende. He (Mwongela) had promised to marry me,” Nduku stated in her
mitigation.
Their purported secret relationship came to light in 2011 just three
months after Mwende, a boutique owner and Mwongela wedded in a church
ceremony in Machakos.
Initially, Mwongela who worked in Malindi, used to visit Mwende in
Nairobi on a monthly basis, but unknown to her, Nduku – who was one of
her bridesmaids during their wedding – was also eyeing the old man.
Nduku worked at her grandmother’s boutique where her fight with a
colleague over a man made her quit her job “to concentrate on her
relationship with Mwongela” in what later escalated to insulting text
messages directed at her grandmother.
Nduku told the court that she has been in an intimate relationship
with Mwongela and it would be tiresome to appear in court daily.
Besides, she claimed to be in the process of preparing to leave the
country for unknown reasons and hence her change of plea and stunning
confession.
Nduku was fined Sh10,000 in five counts or serve three months in jail
for all the counts. She was however discharged on one count, a ruling
that Mwende claims to be ‘fishy,’ considering the initial bond terms.
“At the moment, I don’t have the heart to forgive Nduku for what she
did to me. It hurts a lot and I don’t think I will even forgive her,”
Mwende told The Nairobian.
According to Mwende, the text messages were gross and ruined her
relationship with other family members and “some elders have since
approached me that I ought to forgive her but it is hard because I
raised her like my own.”
She added that, “The bitter part is how her father defended her and
told me he is ready to receive dowry from Mwongela. For now, I will just
take a break before embarking on the next course of action and probably
find another option to seek justice.”
