In 2012, Apostle James Ng’ang’a of the Neno Evangelism Ministry married Louise Murugi after his first wife, with whom he had four children, passed on.
The two tied the knot in a colourful ceremony at the Windsor Golf Club in 2012. The wedding was attended by among others, the then Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.
The two would however start experiencing numerous problems in their marriage with Pastor Nganga often beating up Louise for no apparent reason.
Murugi talks of how she was one day travelling to China with Apostle Nganga alongside her mother in law only for Ng’ang’a to start insulting her on the plane, and later on abandoned her and her mother at the airport.
She alleges that Ng’ang’a later sent her a message bragging he had done shopping worth Sh3 million and that he did not care about them.
Five days later, Ng’ang’a reportedly called her to apologise for the ill treatment towards.
Murugi further claims that one day, she found him drinking and they disagreed, resulting in a brawl. She said that after the incident, she received a text message threatening her not to go back home.
“True to his word, he had changed the door locks to deny me access into the house. I was forced to go back with our child to my mother’s house,” said Murugi.
Murugi adds that when they later met over the incident, Ng’ang’a reportedly got drunk and beat her. She claims that she left the house and drove off with her then six months old daughter’s clothes in the family car. She then adds that she surrendered the car to police officers who had been sent by Ng’ang’a to collect it.
But in a counter suit, Pastor Ng’ang’a claims Murugi deserted their matrimonial home and took off with their daughter, whom he claimed he had not seen since.
Ng’ang’a asked the court to grant him custody of the baby, saying it is in the interest of the child because she has been denied fatherly love, care, control and supervision.
“I have exhausted all avenues to try and resolve this matter. I pray that I be allowed to take care of the child without any interference from Murugi,” reads the evangelist’s affidavit.
But Murugi in her papers is of the view that Ng’ang’a is not competent to be granted custody.
“He is an abusive man, a drunkard and a man who lacks good moral grounding as he has no respect for any one, not even my own mother. He mistreats his children and even brings women to his house. This has resulted in his children being stressed and adopting a ‘don’t-care’ attitude that I would not wish for my child,” wrote Murugi in her suit.
Murugi and Nganga were fighting to get custody of their then 1 year old daughter.