Sunday evening saw a mother of seven lose her life in the hands of her boyfriend. Mwajuma B., the 34 year old Kenyan mother of seven had just delivered her last child a month ago. She had been fighting with her 40 year old boyfriend and father of her three youngest children. Her Boyfriend, Ramadhani K. had become an alcoholic and would get drunk daily without helping out with the kids.
On Sunday the couple got into a fight and the neighbours could only hear screams from their apartment. At 11pm, the two daughters (9 and 11 year olds) rang the bell at the neighbour’s house asking for help for their mother.
When the neighbours got into the house, Mwajuma lay on the bed with blood all over the place. Ramadhani, sat relaxed on the sofa, as he smoked a cigarette in the bloody house.
The Neighbour called the police who were in the area on patrol and Ramadhani was arrested. Apparently, Ramadhani told the police, “Don’t handle me like an animal”.
When the paramedics got to the scene, they tried to save Mwajuma but it was too late. She was pronounced dead where she lay on the bed.
Five of the seven the children were at home, in their apartment in Leimbachweg in Köln-Dünnwald during the event. The seven children who are three boys aged 17, 16 and 3 years; and four girls aged 11, 10 and 2 years were taken by the children’s services (Jugendamt) and spent Sunday night at the hospital. Although they were not physically injured, they got to talk to a counsellor during their stay at the hospital that night.
The head of children’s service, Klaus-Peter Völlmecke, said the children were traumatised and were undergoing therapy. He added that it was imperative for the children to remain together for now, to help them recover. Later they might be separated and put in different homes or with different families but right now it would be best for them to stick together.
If there are any relatives who would be interested in being involved with the children now that the parents are no longer in a position to take care of them, they can get in touch with the city of Köln to decide on the way forward. The city of Köln will try and find relatives as well but failure to family members stepping out to help, the decision on what happens to the children will be made solely by the city.
Rama was arrested and is under investigation. It remains unclear what caused the argument or the motive behind did.
According to the neighbours the family had been having financial problems. Rama and Mwajuma had apparently gone different ways with Ramadhani renting a new apartment for himself, though he regularly spent the night at Mwajuma’s. A neighbour who volunteers at the homeless shelter, told the newspapers that he would regularly give the children left over brötchen and bread and sometimes the children would ask him if he didn’t offer. The family had lived on Leimbachweg for three years.
Mwajuma had been married to another man, the father of the other four children before divorcing and hooking up with Ramadhani, the father of the youngest three children. Ramadhani refused to comment on what had happened and the newspapers pieced the articles based on the information the neighbours and police gave.