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Benga musician Queen Jane died from depression
Apr 20, 2021
In Summary
• Her sisters say she had a partner she called 'husband' who depressed her
Benga musician Queen Jane, real name Jane Nyambura, died from depression, her sisters Lady Wanja and Princess Aggie have said. Speaking in a YouTube interview with 'Metha ya Kagoni', her sisters said Jane started falling sick after she allegedly got married. Queen Jane sang to campaign against social ills, such as piracy and rape. She died in 2010 at St Mary’s Hospital, Nairobi, after suffering from a long illness. By the time of her death, she was married to James Kariuki. "Jane fell sick after she fell into depression. This is after she met a man and made him her husband. He is the one who depressed her till she died," Lady Wanja said. Jane covered her troubles in that marriage since she did not want to expose the man. Asked to speak about what exactly depressed Queen Jane, the sisters said infidelity, misusing her money and even beating her. "When Jane fell sick, he did not take care of her and even after she was admitted in the hospital, we are the ones who paid her hospital bill." They added that the man even withdrew all the money from Jane's bank account and Jane knew but told nobody. Her family found out when she was in hospital. "We knew she was depressed and even before she died, we had plans of taking her abroad." Was there a follow-up of that? The sisters said the man was her husband and so some things were hard to take action against. "He did not run away, they were living together. It was painful." At the time of her death, Jane did not have children and was buried at her parents' home. Kariuki had moved to a Thika court and obtained an order restraining his in-laws from interring with his wife's remains at her maternal home. During the court battle that lasted for more than three months, Kariuki, through his lawyer Ngure Mbugua, informed the court he married Nyambura in June 2001 under Kikuyu customary law and later solemnised the marriage in 2009 under the Christian Marriage Act. The video of the wedding presided over by Pastor JJ was played before Thika senior resident magistrate Barbara Owino. However, the musician's younger sister Lady Wanja trashed the video clip, claiming it was a stage-play whose script was written by Queen Jane. On September 13, 2010, Owino ruled in favour of the musician's family, noting that Pastor JJ Gitahi, who solemnised their union, "had no capacity to officiate marriages as he was not legally registered". "Under the circumstances, no marriage took place between the deceased and the plaintiff and he can only be called a friend to her. The body belongs to her family and they have the right to inter her remains," she ruled. Lady Wanja and Princess Aggie are also musicians, carrying on the legacy of their sister.
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