This archive report was first published on 21 December 2021.
On December 20, 2021, Virginia Waveti Njeru appeared before Embu Senior Resident Magistrate Juliana Ndeng'eri, facing charges of assaulting her sister-in-law, Jane Wanjiru Njiru.
According to a charge sheet, Waveti allegedly assaulted Wanjiru on July 22, 2021, occasioning her actual bodily harm. Wanjiru, a casual labourer, claimed that her sister-in-law hit her with a metal bar on her head when she sought someone to open the gate.
Wanjiru told the court, "We live on government land issued to the squatters and I found the access gate closed. When I asked who had closed it, she came out and hit me." She also alleged that Waveti had accused her of trespass.
Waveti, however, denied the allegations and claimed that she had spent a night in a police cell and incurred expenses while attending the court case since July. In her mitigation, she prayed for a just decision and requested the court to fine the complainant so that she could recover her expenses.
Embu senior resident magistrate Juliana Ndeng'eri ruled that she had considered Waveti's mitigation, but the accused was not remorseful. As a result, she fined Waveti Sh50,000 or sentenced her to one year in jail.
