“My biggest mistake in life was marrying Robert Burale, na siyo kwa ubaya!” a laid back Rozina Mwakideu says, occassionally chuckling. “And the darkest period in my life, was when I was with Robert Burale.”
The gospel artiste laid all the details bare about her failed marriage with the renown life coach and pastor, in an intimate interview with her brother— Radio47 presenter Alex Mwakideu.
It has been 12 years since Rozina and Burale parted their separate ways, but she insists she can never go back, even though both of them have never moved in terms of settling with different spouses.
“I can never go back. I was the one who left him, and we never had any children, which, to me, I think is a blessing in that one year and two days. The day I left that marriage, I called you [Alex], and you came for me. That was my third attempt to leave. I had been trying so hard for this marriage to work, and in that period, these two times I tried to go and came back, I was really like I could die trying to make it work,” she said.
Although there was no violence in the marriage, Rozina says that moving out of it was a matter of “life and death” for her.
“For me it was a matter of life and death… but there was no violence. People can be good and foolish, enter into situations which they shouldn’t. When I met Burale, there were so many women around him, but I realised later when I was married. I did not know,” she added. “He may be a good person now, grown, matured and everything. But when I met him I don’t think he was.”
Red flags
Yet, immediately after meeting Burale, Rozina said that a red flag presented itself, and she chose to ignore it. Burale borrowed her KSh250,000.
“He claimed it was about his dad’s estate, and the lawyer wanted a lot of money. I told him I do not have that kind of money because I do not know you, first of all. I believe anyone who asks for money after meeting someone is a huge red flag, regardless of gender. In those few days, he had shown me I was the only woman,” she narrated.
At one instance, Burale and Rozina met in Nairobi, and he took her to their home in Karen, where they spent close to a month. But in all those intimate nights, Rozina said they never had sex.
“Burale’s mother used to really like me. She welcomed me really good. Burale really wanted to marry me. But up to now, I don’t know why he wanted to marry me. But it was not for love. Alikuwa na maneno matamu sana, lakini actions zake wow! Hakuwa anataka nitoke pale kwao. It is like he wanted me to be within his sight at all times. There is a day I decided to escape literally. Unfortunately, he knew about the plan and blocked it. He never wanted me to interact with my friends, family and all. It is like I was in prison.”
It was during this period, Rozina says, that she started getting messages from people on Facebook from women who were apparently warning her against dating Burale.
Nonetheless, Rozina decided to overlook all these red flags. Their fast encounter was at the end of 2011, but before she was able to leave the Karen residence, plans were already for a wedding, which actually happened in August 2012.
This is an extract of Rozina’s words from the interview
Everything, everyone was telling me don’t. Only one person said let us do it, and I listened to that one. I was walking down the isle, lakini roho yangu haikuwa pale. I was pinning my fate on hope. There was so much falsehopod and deception but I chose to ignore.
We went for honeymoon in South Africa, and to my shocking, celibacy continued. We spent like 10 days and we never had sex. I came to find out that at our wedding, there were several ladies who attended who thought that Burale would marry them… I managed to get a password to his laptop, and I bumped into a video of gay men in the act. I asked him about the video, but he lied to me that the video is not his. I also bumped into emails where he was telling ladies that our marriage is a fake, just for show off. I came to know later that there is a lady who paid for our honeymoon.
Cops started calling me because he used to owe people money. I was caught in the middle of that. Walikuwa wananitishia kwa vitu ambavyo sivijui. Kuna siku nilikuwa kanisani, polisi wakaja wakitaka kunishika kwa sababu hawakumpata Burale.
Nilikuwa kwa depression mbaya sana. Nilikuwa kama zombie. I even contemplated just committing suicide. One day Burale alikuwa ametoka, I picked a kitrchen knife, I sat on the knife….and started pressing the knife in my stomach. I don’t know how long I held that life. I was thinking that I should just die, tears falling down my face. When Burale came and got me in that position, he was shocked himself. He took the knife and took me to the bathroom, I was a mess.
