Ruth Nyambura Mbagara, the mother of the 19-year-old, Ian Njoroge, who was recently seen in a viral video assaulting a traffic police officer, has issued an apology for her son’s behavior.

Ms. Mbagara while makng the apology explained that the altercation occurred because her son, Ian Njoroge, was hurrying home to return her car and take his siblings to church.

This according to her is  a responsibility he routinely fulfills as the eldest child.

She acknowledged that Njoroge made an illegal U-turn but claimed that the officer demanded a bribe of Ksh.10,000. Njoroge, being a university student, could not afford this amount.

The boy, however, mentioned that he could try to gather Ksh.5,000 from his friends, but the officer rejected this offer. This rejection aggravated him further, resulting in the physical confrontation that was recorded and went viral.

“I was surprised because I have brought my son in a Christian way. He is a boy who has gone to good schools, has grown with manners, is God-fearing, obedient, very polite at home…I have never seen him agitated. Something must have happened to that boy,” Ms. Mbagara told The Standard.

“I asked him why, he told me he wanted to bring the car back home before the time for going to church, and on his way he met the policeman. It’s true he made a U-turn, the policeman said he wanted Ksh.10,000, and he told him he couldn’t raise that because he’s a student and that was his mother’s car. He told him he could raise Ksh.5,000, but the policeman refused.”

When Ms. Mbagara entered the house, she observed police officers physically manhandling her son.

Ms. Mbagara admitted that her son was wrong to assault the officer but refuted claims circulating in some media outlets that Njoroge.

“I was heartbroken when I came home from a business trip that night and all I saw was Flying Squad cars outside my gate. In shock, I went inside and found policemen folding my boy down and when I asked why, they showed me a video and told me your boy is a murderer and a robber, that he wanted to kill that man…that the man was in the ICU because of what he (Ian) did,” she recalled.

“I’m speaking as a mother who has been hurting because of seeing how the boy has trended in a negative way. I want to apologise, first of all, and say what he did was not right; he was not supposed to beat that man, I already told him that was wrong.”

Also Read: Reactions Over Nature Of Questioning Ian Njoroge Was Subjected To