Ruth Nyambura Mbagara, mother of the 19-year-old Ian Njoroge who was filmed assaulting a traffic police officer, has issued an apology for his actions while also providing context for the incident.
Ms. Mbagara explained that the altercation occurred as Ian was hurrying home to return her car and take his siblings to church, a responsibility he regularly fulfills as the eldest child.
While acknowledging that Njoroge made an illegal U-turn, Ms. Mbagara claimed the officer demanded a Sh.10,000 bribe.
Unable to meet this demand, Ian, a university student, offered to raise Sh.5,000 with the help of his friends, but the officer refused, leading to the physical confrontation that was recorded on video.
“I was surprised because I have brought my son in a Christian way.
He is a boy who has gone to good schools, has grown with manners, is God-fearing, obedient, very polite at home…
I have never seen him agitated.
Something must have happened to that boy,” Ms. Mbagara told The Standard.
“I asked him why, he told me he wanted to bring the car back home before the time for going to church, and on his way he met the policeman.
It’s true he made a U-turn, the policeman said he wanted Sh.10,000, and he told him he couldn’t raise that because he’s a student and that was his mother’s car.
He told him he could raise Sh.5,000, but the policeman refused.”
She recounted how she discovered the situation upon returning home that evening to find police vehicles at her gate.
Inside, she saw officers physically restraining her son.
Ms. Mbagara acknowledged her son’s wrongdoing in assaulting the officer but refuted media reports portraying Njoroge as a murderer and a robber.
“I was heartbroken when I came home from a business trip that night and all I saw was Flying Squad cars outside my gate.
In shock, I went inside and found policemen folding my boy down and when I asked why, they showed me a video and told me your boy is a murderer and a robber, that he wanted to kill that man…that the man was in the ICU because of what he (Ian) did,” she recalled.
“I’m speaking as a mother who has been hurting because of seeing how the boy has trended in a negative way.
I want to apologise, first of all, and say what he did was not right; he was not supposed to beat that man, I already told him that was wrong.”
