Call me Amani, says ex-convict who killed family members

A man who shocked the nation in 1987 for killing six members of his family is now “reformed” and wants his name changed from Matata to Amani.

Joshua Matata Ndonye, 60, who killed five of his children and his mother over food in the May of 1987, was convicted and thereafter sentenced to death, before the sentence was reduced to life sentence.

In December 2015, Matata was among the prisoners who were set free following an amnesty by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

And on Sunday, Matata was the subject of a special church service at AIC Vumbu in Kilome Sub-county, Makueni County where his chaplain at the Kamiti Maximum Prison Reverend Joyce Mutuku officiated a ceremony to hand him back to the society.

“Thank you for embracing me. I know I left here branded a murderer but now I am reformed. Call me Amani,” Matata’s strong voice pierced into church’s somber mood, sending every congregant into frenzy and ululations.

TURNING POINT

A preacher, Matata recounted his conviction and subsequent jail life and how his turning to Christianity became his turning point.

“While in prison, I could see fellow prisoners become rich by conning people,” he said adding that Christian values helped him fight the temptation to amass wealth while in prison.

He said that he regretted killing his family members and particularly praised his wife Beatrice for welcoming him back.

“She just embraced me and even if she had not said it, I know she did, telling from the way she welcomed me when I walked back home,” Matata told the church.

Reverend Mutuku urged the congregation who included Matata’s neighbours, area administrators and politicians to embrace the freed man.

“Personally, I have been monitoring him closely since he came back and I can attest to his being a good man,” said Mr Onesmas Kimulu, the pastor in charge of the AIC Vumbu.

After the church service, Matata, who was dressed in a gray cotton suit and a matching tie, was lost in the crowd hugging this one and shaking hands with that one and occasionally posing for a photograph with a group of congregants.

“One thing that amazes me is his ability to remain cheerful despite his dull background,” a prominent businessman Thaddeus Nzambia told Nation.co.ke, at the end of the church service adding that Matata’s positive spirit had inspired him.

SHARP CONTRAST

In hushed tones, those who knew Matata before he was jailed were awed and could hardly believe the sharp contrast that was now the man in a cow boy hat and a cream suit exuding redemption at the Protestant church.

In the evening of May 28, 1987, Matata arrived home from a drinking spree and ordered his wife to prepare him chicken.

An impatient Matata however changed his mind and demanded for any food that was ready, before he attacked his wife Beatrice Mboli who screamed awakening his mother Nduku Ndonye who separated the two.

Beatrice fled for the night and when she tip toed to their home at Kwa Kaseke Village the following morning, she found that her husband had killed five of their children- Faith, Malinda, Nzomo, Ndolo, and Ndonye and her mother-in-law, Nduku.

According to court documents, he killed the family members by hitting them using a log, and even attempted to set their bodies on fire.

“We are now living well,” soft spoken Ms Matata told Nation on the sidelines of the church ceremony, her eyes welling with restrained tears.

She added: “At some point I had given up on him thinking that he was killed at the prison, but I thank God this did not happen and he is back at home.”