Mary Wanjiku, in her prime, was one of Kenya's most feared gangsters, belonging to a 4-man gang alongside infamous criminals Anthony Ngugi Kanagi (Wacucu), Gerald Wambugu Munyeria (Wanugu) and Bernard Matheri (Rasta).
Wanjiku was married to Matheri, the gang leader and arguably most wanted criminal of his time.
She was arrested in Githurai, Nairobi, in 1999 for being behind a Sh196 Million heist in Meru, two years after her husband was felled by police.
At the time of her arrest, Wanjiku was found with 18 guns and several grenades in her private armoury and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The sentence was, however, commuted to seven years, and later, four years, with Wanjiku walking out of Embu GK Prison a free woman in 2002.
[caption caption="From left: Anthony Ngugi Kanagi (Wacucu) Bernard Matheri Thuo (Rasta), Gerald Wambugu Munyeria (Wanugu)"]
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Wanjiku had several run-ins with the law while growing up, revealing in an interview with Daily Nation that her first big heist was when she stole Sh70,000 in church offerings shortly after sitting her Certificate of Primary Education (CPE).
She scaled the perimeter wall at the local church chairwoman's home and snuck into her bedroom before making away with the cash.
“It was so much money I couldn’t even count it all!” she reminisced.
Later, at 18, Wanjiku opened a bar in Kutus, Kirinyaga, and it was here that she met Bernard Matheri Thuo.
“He was my customer,” she explained
“He would come often with his friends to buy jackets and trousers. One day, he offered me a lift to Nairobi and on the way he told me, ‘Wanjiku, I want you to teach my wife this business’," Wanjiku continued.
When they got to his house in Komarock, Wanjiku found out that Matheri's first wife was in his rural home and she stayed on to become his second wife.
Matheri soon inducted her into the gang that became synonymous with well-organized bank heists, robberies and carjackings in the 90's.
After her stint in jail, however, Wanjiku came out a changed woman and became a pastor.
The mother of four, who says she regrets her life in crime but believes in forgiveness, now runs Jehovah Shalom Ministries in Kitengela.
[caption caption="Mary Wanjiku at the church she runs in Kitengela"]
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