By Madina Toure
A Kenyan diplomat said he was attacked after he discovered that a man had broken into his home in Kew Gardens Hills.
Evans Maturu, 48, first counselor for the Kenyan mission to the United Nations, confronted the suspect in the living room of his home on 147th Street near 73rd Avenue at about 7:42 p.m. Saturday, according to a police spokeswoman.
The suspect hit him on the head with a metal bat, causing a laceration, and fled the scene on foot, the spokeswoman said.
The man entered Maturu’s home by breaking in through a basement window, she said.
Maturu spent the first two days of the week at home taking care of himself, but he was back at work Wednesday and said he was feeling better.
“It’s okay,” Maturu said. “I’m fine.”
Maturu, who has a wife and three children, said he was at home alone at the time. His house has two floors.
He had been reading most of the afternoon and at around 5:30 p.m., decided to take a nap in his bedroom after listening to the radio.
The lights were off because it was daytime, he explained.
At around 7 p.m., he woke up and wanted to turn on the lights but noticed that the lights were already on in the living room, kitchen and the corridor.
“I didn’t know what had had happened and it was during that time that I could hear some movement, somebody banging the door upstairs,” he said. “So I decided to go back upstairs to see what was happening.”
Maturu caught the suspect running down the stairs very quickly, carrying what he described as a metal rod. He immediately realized it was a stranger.
The suspect hit him on the head, causing bleeding in the back of his head.
“We confronted each other,” he said. “I tried to wrestle him so that I could get that weapon he was carrying. Unfortunately, he hit me in the head and I lost my balance. I was shouting at the top of my voice, asking for help.”
He was taken to Queens Hospital Center, where he was treated for his injuries.
Police described the suspect as a white man in his 30s, 5-foot-5-inches with black hair who was last seen wearing black pants and a white shirt.
No arrests have been made and the investigation was ongoing, the spokeswoman said.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
