• David Kirimi Muriira died due to a head injury caused by a blunt force trauma consistent with the accident.
• The family sought special damages of Sh26,000 and the court awarded general damages of Sh2,020,389.60.
On May 20, 2016, a 34-year-old father of two, David Kirimi Muriira was walking home when he was hit by a vehicle along Kenyatta Muigai road at Dandora Phase 1.
Unable to continue with his journey due to injuries sustained on his left leg, Kirimi called one of his two wives, Nannis Kajiuma, who found him bleeding and rushed him to Mama Lucy Hospital.
He was attended to and his wounds stitched, then the hospital discharged him.
After treatment, Kirima reported the accident at the police station before going home.
Kirimi did not however get well, as the following day he was still in pain.
The man was taken to Mbagathi hospital but he unfortunately passed away.
Upon conducting a post-mortem, it was established that Kirimi died from a head injury caused by blunt trauma consistent with the accident.
His family moved to court, seeking damages arising from the accident.
They were awarded compensation under the law report act of Sh180,000, loss of dependency of Sh1,840,389.60 and special damages Sh26,000.
This totaled to Sh2,046,389.60.
The special damages were claimed and proven by production of receipts.
However, the accused persons a conductor and a driver, John Gioko Makumi and Samuel Kamau said the man was not hit.
They said the deceased jumped from a moving vehicle and sustained severe injuries from the left knee.
The court however determined the evidence presented and found that Makumi and Kamau were responsible for the accident and ordered that they pay the aforesaid amount.
Aggrieved, they moved to appeal against the court's decision arguing that the magistrate ignored their evidence and erred in finding them liable for the accident.
They also argued that the compensatory was too high considering that the deceased had no proof of earnings or employment, yet the first deciding court had applied the multiplier approach in summing the amount.
The multiplier approach is a way of calculating the pain and suffering, future loss, arrived at when death has occurred due to a wrongful act.
"The appellants (Makumi and Kamau) argued that the trial court should have adopted the global sum approach rather than the multiplier approach and proposed a sum of Sh800,000," the court document reads.
After reviewing the case, the High Court at Nairobi agreed with the trial court that Makumi and Kamau were liable for the accident, considering the man was conscious after the accident and he was found by his wife that way.
"The trial court was right in finding the appellant's testimony unbelievable. I find that the trial court was right in finding the appellants 100 per cent liable," the court said.
The court also found that the general damages were adequate.
Consequently, Judge Asenath Ongeri found that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it.
"I accordingly find that the appeal here lacks in merit and I dismiss it and uphold the trial court's findings," she ruled on August 18, 2023.