Stephen Wambua, 33, is the owner of the right hand with three fingers that was found by police near Nairobi National Park on April 8.
It was tossed along the Southern Bypass off Mombasa Road.
Wambua, a resident of Nairobi’s Mbotela estate, said he lost his hand — actually, the palm with three fingers — in an industrial accident at the Inland Container Depot area in Embakasi on April 7 at 11pm.
He has a family with two children and was the sold breadwinner. Now he is disabled and unable to do much.
Wambua wonders how the hand ended up at the park when it had been inside the machine that chopped it off.
Wambua used to earn Sh1,000 per day from the job. He was paid after a fortnight.
He said the hand was not taken to Kenyatta National Hospital where he had been taken for treatment and reattachment surgery.
“I got injured while at work. The machine I was using cut off the palm and I left three fingers inside the machine,” Wambua told the Star at Embakasi police station on Wednesday.
He said the two fingers he was left with were seriously injured.
Wambua had visited the station to record his statement with the DCI. The Star met him there.
The recovery of the palm recovery had been reported to Mombasa Road police post on April 8.
Embakasi subcounty police commander Maasai Makau said the the matter was reported to the Mombasa Road police post under OB 08/08/04/2022 at 12.29pm.
“It was reported by a Kenya Wildlife Service personnel at Nairobi National Park as she was patrolling with her colleagues. They spotted a human hand palm with three fingers intact dumped near the park’s roadside,” Makau told the Star at his office on Friday, April 8.
He said OC crime, NCO Mombasa Road police station and DCI personnel from Embakasi rushed to the scene.
The palm, intact with three fingers, appeared to have been crushed while in a glove, then wrapped in a paper bag and dumped along Southern Bypass police said.
It was taken to City Mortuary for preservation.
“I was rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital and taken to theatre where the two fingers were put together by doctors to see whether they could survive," Wambua aid. He was admitted for a week. The fingers had to be amputated.
He underwent more surgery, leaving him with serious wounds.
Mutuku stayed at the hospital for three more weeks and was discharged a few days ago. After staying home for a week, he went to the police station to record a statement.
He learnt of the palm that had been found when he visited the Mombasa Road police post. He later went to Embakasi police station after confirming that the palm being talked about was his own.
“At the post. I learnt someone had thrown my palm in Nairobi National Park,” Mutuku said.
“I wondered why someone could be so inhumane as to throw my own palm with fingers, they had remained inside the machine at the company. Today I’m pleading for my right, justice.
"They could have brought it and the fingers to the hospital and I maybe they could have been reattached.
Mutuku said the company sent Sh40,000 toward the bill. the rest was covered by NHIF. the total bill had been Sh145, 000.
“My life has seriously changed since I am now permanently disabled. I have lots of challenges since I can’t do anything either for myself or fend for my family though I was the sole breadwinner.'
Maybe police investigations will find out what happened and who's to blame.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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