Divorce court: Linturi cheated, plotted to kill me – Kitany tells court

Meru senator Mithika Linturi’s estranged wife Marianne Kitany yesterday said she wants to end their marriage because he had been unfaithful and had denied her conjugal rights.

Testifying during the hearing of the divorce case that she filed, Kitany also claimed Linturi had threatened to kill her for allegedly destroying his political career.

She said the senator once beat her when she demanded to know why he was cheating on her.

The former chief-of-staff at Deputy President William Ruto’s office told Chief Magistrate Peter Gesora that she started suspecting that the senator was cheating on her when he started coming home late and would disappear for days.

“I became suspicious of his movements as he would come home late and did not want to give me my conjugal rights. I sneaked into his phone and found pictures and videos of nude women sent to him,” she told the court.

Last straw

Kitany said Linturi beat her up while they were in Meru when she confronted him about his affairs.

She said the last straw was when she found out that the senator had taken title deeds that belonged to her relatives and charged them to a bank.

“When I brought the matter for discussion, he ran away to Meru. He would come to Nairobi to attend parliamentary sessions and sneak back to Meru,” she told the court, adding that  in July 2018, she decided to involve both their parents in the matter.

“I called my mother and father-in-law and had a discussion about our relationship. They said they needed to involve him in the matter, saying the issue was too big for them to handle alone,” she told the court.

According to Kitany, Linturi would later accuse her of attempting to steal his property and threatened to kill her, saying she was destroying his political career.

House help death

“I went to DCI to report the threat to my life… it was early October. I later went to court to seek protection orders and the court granted my request,” she told the court.

Kitany said before the threat on her life, her house help in Meru had called and informed her that the senator was bringing women into the house. 

She said she was planning to meet the house help to learn more about her claims when she died under mysterious circumstances.

“My filing of protection orders was also instigated by the maid’s death. We got temporary orders and we were unable to serve him until late November,” she told the court.

Kitany said a woman had revealed to her that she was sent by Linturi to befriend her with the intention of poisoning her.

“When I decided to file for divorce, a mutual friend informed me that Mithika was planning to evict us from the house. That is why I asked the court to protect me and the children from being evicted,” she said.

The court heard that at one time, the Meru senator reported to the police that her children, who they were staying with at the Runda home, were terrorists and wanted them evicted.

Hired goons

Kitany said Linturi eventually succeeded in evicting her and her children when the matter on her protection orders was thrown out because her lawyers had failed to appear in court during the hearing. 

She said the senator used the police, hired goons and dogs to throw her out of the house, an operation, she said, left the children  traumatised.

The evictors, she said, came in a 52-seater bus. The men were armed with rocks and the women were ululating, she said.

“They broke the gate and sat at the lawn. They were given instructions to break the door. He was within the vicinity and police were watching. We complied and went out of the house. Of course, the children were terrified. My son was even slapped by the goons,” she said.

Kitany is disputing claims by Linturi that they were never married. 

During an earlier hearing, she played video clips and photos in court to prove they were married according to Nandi and Meru customs.

Yesterday, she even played a love poem she said was written for her by Linturi on her birthday.

Kitany told the court that she had filed a case at the children’s court seeking the sole custody of all the children, including Linturi’s. The hearing continues on Monday.