Meru's 'James Bond': Mother struggles to save son from jail

A man hangs on a chopper carrying Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya and EALA MP Mpuru Aburi at Kiegoi market, Igembe South on 22.06.2022.

Photo credit: Gitonga Marete I Nation Media Group

It was her neighbour who alerted Ms Mercy Nyoroka that her son was in trouble. “Not again!” she recalls shouting as she inquired what was wrong “this time round”.

For five years now, Ms Nyoroka has been on the edge over her son’s condition, she says. When she was finally informed that Johakim Mutwiri had clung onto a chopper carrying Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya and was being sought by police, she got worried.

It all began in February 2017 when Mr Mutwiri fell from a tree while cutting branches, a job he has been doing since he was 15 years old.

“I took him to hospital and he was treated but doctors told me the impact of the fall had affected him mentally. Since then he has been behaving strangely and when he does something he cannot recall what happened,” she said in an interview at the Maua courthouse in Igembe South.

After the chopper incident on Wednesday last week that shocked residents of Kiegoi market, Mr Mutwiri was arrested the following day and arraigned on Friday on charges of attempted suicide.

Ms Nyoroka appeared in court and pleaded with Resident Magistrate Chesoni Khanali to release her son, who she said is mentally unstable. She was ordered to present medical reports to support her claims. 

She returned to court on Monday, but she was kept waiting for several hours before court orderlies told her that Mr Mutwiri would not be produced in court because he had not been processed.

“I was told he would not be charged today because he has not been tested for Covid-19. I don’t know when I am supposed to report but I will come back tomorrow,” she said.

Talking to Ms Nyoroka, one understands why the mother of four is worried about her 25-year-old son. After he fell from the tree, she said he developed a condition and his mental coordination is shaky.

She said Mr Mutwiri fell from the first floor of a building under construction in Nairobi in early 2019 and suffered injuries in his leg and a fracture in his right hand.

“I travelled to Nairobi and took him to hospital. When he recovered, he came back to Meru and I enrolled him for a mechanics course at Maua Polytechnic,” she narrated.

When he met Ms Dorothy Kiaria in 2020 and the two fell in love, Ms Nyoroka thought her son would settle down, but his marriage has been rocked by quarrels and disagreements because he does not provide for his family. 

“He can go out to work the whole day but when he comes back he says he had not gone anywhere,” she said.

“When I remind him he had spent the day working for a neighbour, who paid him Sh2,000, he would ask, ‘What do you mean? I don’t have any money on me’. This has been going on for some time now.”

Ms Kiaria has been married to Mr Mutwiri for three years and the two have a daughter. She said her husband was violent and she had to seek refuge at her parents’ home when he beat her.

“He chases me away but then comes back to beg for forgiveness and because of love I find myself reconciling with him,” she said.

“Two months ago, I was unhappy with his behaviour, so I went back home but when I heard that he had been arrested, I came to see him. I cannot desert my husband now when he is in trouble.”

Despite her frustration in the courts, Ms Nyoroka said she would not give up, vowing to have her son released unconditionally.

“They are taking me round in circles, claiming there are tests he is supposed to undergo. I want him released because he did not commit any offence and I know he is okay,” she said, accusing the police of failing to secure the helicopter.

“There were many people at the venue in Kiegoi where the chopper landed. Why didn’t they make sure there was no one around at the time it was taking off?” she posed.