• Wambua's hand was cut by a machine he was while working at a private company
• It was discovered with three fingers at a park, the other two had to be amputated
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Stephen Wambua, 33, is the owner of a hand with three fingers that was found by police officers near Nairobi National Park on April 8.
The hand, with three fingers intact, had been found dumped along the Southern by-pass off Mombasa Road, near the Nairobi National Park in Nairobi county.
Wambua, a resident of Nairobi’s Mbotela estate, said he lost his hand while working in a private company that deals in the manufacture of manholes in ICD, Embakasi, on April 7, at 11pm. He has a family with two children.
He, however, wonders how the palm ended up at the park while he had left it inside the machine that chopped his hand. The victim earned Sh1,000 per day from the job. He was paid fortnightly.
Wambua blamed the incident on his employers, saying they could have taken the palm to Kenyatta National Hospital, where he had been admitted, for doctors to restore the hand, instead of discarding it.
“I got injured while at work in a private company. The machine I was using cut my hand. I left three fingers inside the machine and remained with only two fingers,” Wambua told the Star at Embakasi police station in Nairobi.
He had visited the station to record his statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on the incident when the Star caught up with him.
He said the two fingers he was left with were seriously injured.
The mysterious hand recovery had earlier been reported to Mombasa Road police post.
Embakasi subcounty police commander Maasai Makau said the hand palm was recovered at around 10am on April 8.
Makau said the matter was reported to Mombasa Road police post under OB: 08/08/04/2022 at 1229 hours.
“It was reported by one Margaret Wangui, a Kenya Wildlife Service personnel at Nairobi National Park, that on April 8, 2022, at around 1000 hours as she was patrolling together with her colleagues, they spotted a human palm with three fingers intact dumped near the park’s roadside,” Makau told the Star at his office on April 8.
He said OC crime and NCO Mombasa Road police station together with DCI personnel from Embakasi subcounty rushed to the scene.
They established that the hand appeared to have been crashed while in a glove, wrapped in a paper bag and dumped along the Southern bypass road.
Makau said the scene was photographed and documented by crime scene detectives.
“The recovered hand palm with three fingers has been taken to City Mortuary for preservation. The Embakasi subcounty criminal investigations officer is dealing with the matter,” he said.
“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.
“I was then admitted at the hospital for one week before I returned to the theatre, only to be told that the fingers had to be cut since they couldn’t survive, they had died.”
“From there, I was operated on again, leaving me with serious wounds on my hand,” he said.
Mutuku said he stayed at the hospital for three other weeks, bring his total admission period to a month. He was finally discharged from the facility, stayed home for a week before visiting the police station to record his statement.
He said he learnt of the mysterious hand that had been found at Mombasa Road police post where he had first visited for the statement. He later changed his mind and went to Embakasi police station after confirming that the hand that was being talked about was his own.
“When I returned to my rented house at Mbotela, I took one week then went to Mombasa Road police post to report the incident for a P3. At the post, I learnt that someone had thrown my hand at the Nairobi National Park,” Mutuku said.
“I wonder why someone could be so inhuman as to throw my own hand with fingers. Today I’m pleading for my right, justice. It isn’t good for someone to throw my palm with fingers. They could have brought me my fingers at the hospital, I could have survived with them.”
Mutuku said the company only sent to his account Sh40,000, which partly settled his medical bill, while the rest was cleared by his NHIF. The bill according to him was Sh145,000.
“My life has seriously changed since I am now permanently disabled,” he said.
“I have lots of challenges already after losing my right hand since I can’t do anything either for myself or fend for my family, yet I was the sole breadwinner.”