NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 19- It all started with vocal human rights defender Boniface Mwangi’s Tweet detailing the alleged assault of two women by twin brothers Edward Ndichu and Paul Ndichu.
Mwangi thereafter shared a video, which has since gone viral, showing the commotion.
The incident is also said to have been captured in the city hotel’s CCTV footage according to police.
While the brothers through their company Wapi Pay have issued a statement denying the claims, police are under pressure to arrest and prosecute them.
Calls for their arrest are led by among others media and legal practitioners, who say it will be the only statement against gender-based violence, which has been on a steady rise in the country.
On Monday, the brothers who co-founded Wapi Pay lost a key investor as a result of the incident.
The investors, Kepple Africa Venture, revealed that they will withdraw their funding from the tech firm after its co-founders, the Ndichu brothers, were accused of assaulting women.
“In light of the alleged assault on women by founders of our portfolio company Wapi Pay, we Kepple Africa Ventures hereby announce that we have zero tolerance on such conduct and announce that we will relinquish all the rights of our investment stake in Wapi Pay,” Ryosuke Yamawaki, a General Partner at Kepple Africa Ventures said in a Tweet.
Paul and Eddie were captured on camera assaulting two women at Ole Sereni Hotel, Nairobi.
According to one of the victims who spoke on social media, the two brothers allegedly assaulted her sister at the hotel after they (the women) declined sexual advances.
In the video, one of the brothers is seen breaking a side mirror of a vehicle parked outside the hotel before going back to the hotel to join his brother in ‘assaulting’ a woman.
The twin brothers are set to lose millions of shillings as the investor was part of a team of investors that pulled US$2.2 million in pre-seed funding to help Wapi Pay to scale up its global market.
On their part, Paul and Eddie have distanced themselves from the assault allegations saying the viral video does not correctly show what transpired.
In a press statement released by their Wapi Pay firm, the twin brothers noted that they do not condone or support violence against women and that on the night of the incident, they did not assault any woman as widely claimed.
According to them, they were only trying to neutralize a confrontation between two women who were fighting in the hotel.
“We are aware of a video and news story circulating on social media regarding an altercation with Eddie and Paul Ndichu, the company’s (Wapi Pay) co-founders on Saturday night. We found the story distasteful and troubling and want to firmly state that any type of behaviour involving violence against women does not reflect our values nor does it reflect those of Eddie and Paul,” reads the statement.
“Our understanding is that the allegations and video currently being shared on social media, albeit horrific and regrettable, do not depict the true events that transpired that night. To be clear, Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and defend themselves from certain aggressors.”
They further noted that they have taken the matter to the police and that it is currently being investigated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Police said they received a complaint at Akila police station in South C and the matter is under investigation.
They promised to take action as soon as the complainant return their P3 form. The matter was reported on October 17 at 5 pm. It is recorded as OB/02/17/10/2021.
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