Ex-wife of former PS Korir narrates how he assaulted her 3 days before delivery

The estranged wife of Principal Secretary (PS) nominee for Ministry of Agriculture Julius Korir on Tuesday, November 29 narrated to the court how she was stripped naked and beaten up by her former husband three days before giving birth.

An emotional Evelyne Koech gave a blow-to-blow account of how PS Korir unleashed terror on her while pregnant and assaulted her in front of the workers and their elder child at their home.

Milimani Senior Resident Magistrate Caroline Muthoni heard that on September 17, 2020, PS Korir arrived at their matrimonial home in Karen and descended on his wife with blows and kicks when she was heavily pregnant with her second child.

“On the fateful day, I was putting our child to bed when my husband walked into the children’s bedroom and shouted 'leo utaniona iko wapi chakula?' And before I answered he started slapping me. I was trying to protect the baby from the slaps," Koech told the court.

"I was naked as the accused tore my night dress into pieces in the process of the beatings until I screamed for help. I was just holding my tummy protecting my child not to get a miscarriage. He was beating me with a rungu as the workers watched mercilessly. They had been threatened not to intervene. Blood was all over the floor," she emotionally told the court.

Following the assault, Koech said that she packed only two dresses and drove to Nairobi Hospital where she explained to the doctor what happened and he attended to her.

Koech revealed that the hospital had records of all the assault cases since she had been a frequent visitor at the hospital.

She said the doctor took videos of the injuries with her phone.

"I was treated and drove to Hardy police station where I reported the incident," she said.

She said she went back to her home where she continued staying with Korir for some time.

In her evidence, Koech told the court that she was relieved and thanked God that her baby was okay and that she was able to deliver in three days.

'Korir is a serial wife barterer'

The court heard that at the time of committing the offence Korir, who is also a former Devolution PS and that the incident of September 17, 2020 was not the only time Korir beat her former wife.

Korir, who is charged with assault, was in court following the proceedings as the estranged narrated how he used to beat her on several occasions.

"He used to ask for forgiveness after every beating and I used to forgive him all the years. He would bring several parties to mediate before separation," she said.

Koech further revealed to the court that Korir used to document his mistakes in emails.

She produced the emails in court as part of her evidence in the case against her former husband.

She added that he always expressed his remorse to her in emails for example on April 11, 2017, and another one on July 26, 2020.

“Whenever the accused assaulted me from 2015, he used to call colleagues and pastors to talk to me and settle the matter," he told the court.

The court continued the hearing in camera as they played the video of the accused allegedly beating the victim without clothes.

Korir and Koech’s marriage is said to have cooled off a few years back, but things took a turn for the worst when claims of assault crept up in 2018.

Korir is out on a cash bail of Ksh20,000 pending the hearing and determination of his case.