Athlete who was murdered by Ethiopian boyfriend was married
Felix Mwendwa Ngila, the husband of murdered Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee Mutua during an interview with the Nation at Katisaa in Machakos Town on May 4, 2022. The family has said that the athlete will be buried on May 12.
The husband of the Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete who was allegedly murdered by her Ethiopian boyfriend has spoken about their relationship and their last conversation two days before she was found dead.
Meanwhile, the family of Damaris Muthee Mutua has turned to crowdfunding to raise money for her burial, as it emerged that the award-winning athlete struggled with financial difficulties nine years after she was signed into the Bahraini national team.
Muthee was chatting with her husband Mr Felix Mwendwa Ngila on WhatsApp hours before she was strangled to death at Iten township in Elgeyo Marakwet County. The 32-year-old works as a security guard in Qatar.
Silver medallist Damaris Muthee Mutua who was found dead on Iten in April 19, 2022.
A WhatsApp conversation between the couple on Saturday, April 16 seen by the Nation shows Muthee teasingly inviting Mr Mwendwa to a meal. He thanked her for the offer and wished he was able to be by her side at the time.
At midnight, he shared a short video on relationship titbits with her. When she woke up on Sunday morning she saw the video and thanked him for it. “Good morning. Thanks for the video. Learning is growing,” she said.
He got concerned when he didn’t see her online throughout Sunday afternoon and Monday. His frantic calls went unanswered before the phone was eventually switched off.
On Tuesday, April 19, he texted her on WhatsApp; “Good morning dear. Umepotelea wapi? Why are you off?”
Decomposing
The body of Muthee was found decomposing in a house in Iten that Tuesday.
When the image of Damaris was posted in one of his WhatsApp groups on Tuesday evening as he headed to work, Mr Mwendwa's heart skipped a beat.
"At first I thought she had been recognised for some achievement, but on opening the message and seeing 'murdered', I became numb. The shock was exacerbated by the fact that I was on night shift and had no one else to stand in for me. I cried the whole night. It was the longest night," Mr Mwendwa told the Nation at his home in Machakos town, in a modest house made of iron sheets next to his parents’ home, which is dwarfed by the imposing African Inland Church Katisaa.
He arrived in Kenya on Saturday ahead of the funeral. He has joined his relatives and the athletics community in hoping that the police will soon arrest Eskinder Hailemaryam Folie -- an Ethiopian athlete identified by Kenyan detectives as the main suspect in her murder -- and successfully question him to unearth his motive.
It does not cross Mr Mwendwa’s mind that his wife could have been dating the Ethiopian.
As he opened up on his fond memories of his wife, Mr Mwendwa painted the picture of a disciplined go-getter who stopped at nothing to get what she wants.
They met in 2010 after she arrived from Singapore where she represented Kenya in the Youth Olympics. She was in Form Two, and he had just completed secondary school and was actively involved in athletics at the Machakos Training Camp, where Muthee also practised.
Shockwaves
Two weeks after the death that sent shockwaves across the world, the Nation has established that the family of Muthee has not yet heard a word from the Bahrain team where she played.
Josephat Ndeti (left) and his wife Rose, the in-laws of the late Damaris Muthee Mutua, the Kenyan-Bahrain athlete who was killed last weekend, pose with some of her trophies and medals at her Manza home in Machakos County on April 22, 2022.
“We shall bury her at her Katisaa home on the fringes of Machakos town on May 12,” her father-in-law, Mzee Josephat Ndeti, told the Nation in an interview on Thursday.
A WhatsApp group created to help the family raise money for the burial had raised Sh62,000 by yesterday, against the Sh700,000 targeted by the committee organising the funeral set for Thursday next week.
“We are calling on athletes, friends, well-wishers and the government to help us accord Damaris a befitting send off,” said Mr Philip Muia, the chairman of the funeral committee.
The eighth-born in a family of nine children was a role model to many budding athletes long before she was hired by the Bahrain national team. Mr Mwendwa was attracted to a highly disciplined athlete with a promising future, who was known for her long strides.
"One day she approached me and sought to take my measurements to make her brother a suit. When we got to the tailor she ordered my suit as well. Damaris was very generous. That is why I keep wondering what really was the motive of the person who took her life," he said.
When she was spotted and hired by the Bahraini team through a local agency, Mr Mwendwa was over the moon.
Back to the track
"I knew she would not abandon me. I expected she would soon pull me to the other side. When she delivered their son in 2014, Mr Mwendwa cut down on practice to became her coach. She needed to shed weight quickly and get back to the track.
As she thrived in athletics, her family was beset with financial challenges. It was why Mr Mwendwa stopped being a professional athlete and took up odd jobs.
At one point, he worked at a puncture repair shop in Kericho town, a dog training start-up that landed deals all over the country, and for an affluent businessman in Nairobi where he was a gardener.
Things started looking up when he landed the Qatar job in 2019. Were it not for the economic hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, he would have flown home regularly.
"With no races scheduled during the Covid-19 period, Damaris and Ryan moved to Machakos. She stopped earning from the Bahrain team. Things would have been difficult if I were jobless. This year had started on a high note for her as she resumed training with her Bahraini teammates. We were discussing how she should start saving the money she earned since I was taking care of family expenses,” Mr Mwendwa said, while showing the Nation around his modest house with dozens of medals and trophies on display.
They include Muthee’s latest -- a bronze she bagged at the Luanda Half Marathon in Angola earlier in April.
“We met briefly at Doha airport a week before her death, as she was jetting back home from Angola. I feel like one of my hands has been chopped off,” Mr Mwendwa added.
