A former prisoner by the name Grace Wateri narrated how she ended up in jail while pregnant for killing her husband.
In a candid interview with Citizen TV journalist Lulu Hassan, Grace revealed that she was brought up in a violent home. Her parents frequently fought as she watched. She tried talking to them to stop the fights but they wouldn’t listen.
After class 8, Grace’s parents refused to educate her further. Her mother claimed she was useless. She ended up doing casual jobs and at some point fled home due to the violence between her parents.
After fleeing home, she continued with the casual jobs but got married out of desperation.
Her marriage was good at the beginning but as the years went by, her husband became irresponsible and frequent fights began. Grace still has black eye scars that she sustained during the frequent fights.
When the fights escalated, Grace decided to quit the marriage. At the time, she was pregnant with her third child but was financially okay since she had a thriving business of selling second hand electronics.
Her husband was against the idea of ending the marriage. He threatened to kill her but she didn’t take him seriously since he was always drunk.
On the fateful day of the murder, he stormed into the house where she was living with the kids after quitting the marriage. He stabbed her multiple times.
Out of anger and pain, Grace defended herself, pushed him aside and quickly grabbed the knife. She stabbed him multiple times.
Neigbours managed to take them to hospital but sadly, the man was in a critical condition and died while receiving treatment. Grace confessed to killing him. Doctors called police who arrested her.
In court, Grace pleaded guilty to murder. Her charges were however reduced to manslaughter and she was jailed for 7 years at Langata women’s prisons.
Life there was hard especially because she was pregnant. Her mother took the child when he was four years old to avoid him being taken to a children’s home.
Grace urged married couples to part ways peacefully to avoid ending up like her.
by: Shantynews