Family cries for justice as man who slashed their daughter is free

Ms Martha Chepkemoi sits forlornly on a fragile stool. She has a distant look in her eyes.

Her hands and legs have wounds, which were inflicted by her lover — a man with who she has a daughter.

On that fateful day, October 30, 2019, he descended on her with a panga and hacked her in an incident that shocked residents of Koroitik village, Konoin.

In a murderous rage, Leonard Cheruiyot, who is married to another woman, with whom he has three children, slashed Ms Chepkemoi, leaving her for dead before disappearing into a thicket. He has never been arrested.

SURVIVED ORDEAL

Ms Chepkemoi, 23, miraculously survived the ordeal, but suffered deep cuts on her leg, thighs and right hand. She is still unable to perform basic domestic chores and has had to rely on relatives for support.

“I fear for my life as my attacker is still at large. I keep watching my back even while indoors,” she told the Nation.

On the day she was attacked, the young mother had just returned from the family farm, where she had been plucking tea leaves, when her lover called her, saying he was on a road some 150 metres away from her parents’ home.

“He said he wanted to meet me briefly but urgently over a matter he did not reveal,” she said.

Unknown to her, the phone call and the subsequent meeting would forever change her life and leave her with permanent scars.

“I told my mother that I was stepping out briefly. Little did I know that I was being called out to be hacked for reasons I don’t know until now,” said Ms Chepkemoi.

She recalled that as she walked towards her lover, she noticed that the distance kept widening as he walked backwards. “It later dawned on me that he was looking for an isolated spot to attack me.”

As she jovially thrust her hand forward to greet him, a panga that he had concealed in his jacket dropped, taking her aback.

WEAPON
When she inquired why he was carrying the weapon, he claimed to have been using it for work.

“Satisfied with the answer, I went on to engage him in a conversation. He told me to hand him his phone, which I was using, and asked why I had not carried our daughter along,” she said.

“He asked me to walk with him for some metres as we continued talking and when I turned on instinct, he cut my knee. My leg became numb. Before I could recover from the shock, he cut the lower part of my leg, almost severing it as blood gushed out.”

It is at that point she realised her life was hanging on a thread and started screamed her lungs out, attracting the attention of neighbours.

“After hacking my leg three times, he cut my thighs and perhaps going for the killer blow, he drew the panga high up and aimed for my neck.”
She raised her right hand to protect herself and the panga landed on it, leaving it hanging on tendons as blood gushed out and covered her face. She tried to stand up but was overwhelmed and blacked out.

“With neighbours approaching quickly, he dropped the panga and took off,” she said.

She was rushed to Mogogosiek health centre and later referred to Kapkatet Sub-County Hospital in neighbouring Kericho County.

PHYSIOTHERAPY

Her relatives claim she lay unattended for several hours at Kapkatet before she was referred to Litein AIC Hospital, and then to Kericho Sub-County Hospital. It was then that her family insisted she be taken to Tenwek Hospital in Bomet.

“She lost a lot of blood and doctors feared she would die at Kapkatet Hospital, where the blood bank had run out of stock,” said Ms Judy Too, her mother

Ms Chepkemoi, who now lives with relatives in Bomet Central, was discharged after two weeks.

She has been readmitted to the hospital for corrective surgery several times and is still undergoing follow-up reviews and physiotherapy.

He parents, peasant farmers, are appealing to the government to find the suspect so that their daughter can get justice.

“All we want is for our child to get justice,” Ms Too said.