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Thursday 1 May 2014

LIFE WITH SWEET HUSBAND WHO TURNED INTO MONSTER DAD

LEFT: Baby Sarah Otolo moments after being admitted at the Prestige Healthcare with a fractured skull and swollen eyes: RIGHT: With her mother Teresia Ang’ai .
When 24 year old Teresia Ang’ai heard of what had befallen her six year old daughter Sarah Otolo, she could not believe the man she loved could turn against his own blood.
Teresia is the mother to Baby Sarah,  girl who was assaulted by her father, a city nightclub bouncer, and left with a fracture on her skull.
The man has since gone missing and is still at large.
Teresia  met Joseph Omwoma in 2007 and moved in with him a year later.
“He would buy me presents and take me out to express his love.  We were in love and even my sisters knew him,” said Teresia.

She says their love was true and nothing could separate them in the beginning. Things however changed in 2008 when Teresia got pregnant. Her husband started insulting her and coming home late.
“He would behave as if I am no longer his girlfriend by having affairs with other women,” says Teresia.
It was then that she resolved to leave their house in Githurai 44 and put up with a friend in the same estate.
“Though his attitude towards me had changed, he never got to the point of beating me up,” says Teresia.
She gave birth to Sarah while living at a friend’s house and had to work as a casual labourer to febd for her baby.
“In 2011, Joseph came for Sarah with the intention of living with her and enrolling her into school,” recalls Teresia. “I did not object since I was not able to pay her school fees and had to struggle to feed her every day.”
Joseph then took Baby Sarah to his house and vowed to take good care of her and educate her.
At first Baby Sarah was barred from seeing or visiting her mother. They talked only when they met randomly in the estate.
Scars of beatings
Baby Sarah shows off marks she got from her father's beatings. PHOTO | DENISH OCHIENG
Baby Sarah shows off marks she got from her father’s beatings. PHOTO | DENISH OCHIENG
“During the 2013 Christmas holiday, Sarah’s father allowed her to spend the holiday at my house. That was when I first noticed some scars on her back,” said Teresia.
“On asking her, she told me she was beaten by her father because of eating slowly. I then told Joseph not to be beating her that much when he came to pick her up after the holiday,” she added.
Teresia says although her daughter did not want to go back to her father’s house, she had to let her go because she could not provide for her.
The scars were not as many then as they are now, according to Teresia, who says it is possible that the daughter has been assaulted severally this year.
She recalls a particular day when Baby Sarah was crying at her father’s balcony, and since Teresia had been threatened never to set foot in the house, she told Baby Sarah’s aunt Joyce Kusa to check what was happening.
“I beckoned at Sarah to come to me. She went inside the house for a while then came downstairs to meet me. She had a swollen eye and was crying,” says Joyce.
Baby Sarah is now at the Prestige Healthcare undergoing treatment for a fractured skull. Doctor Jame Mugo, the owner of the premise, suspects the child was hit by a blunt object or was hurled to a wall.
Teresia says once the daughter is discharged she is ready to live with her and provide for her by taking up casual jobs.

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