- Police sources said the occupants of the car that chased the lorry were weighbridge officials and officers attached to Axel Load Enforcement Unit.
- No senior officers authorised to speak to the press were available at Weighbridge police station when reporters visited to get comments on the incident.
The driver of the lorry that killed a seven-year-old child along Nairobi – Mombasa Road on April 13 has spoken.
Jones Mutinda, 37, said he mistook the officers who spiked his vehicle for thugs.
“I could not know that the occupants of the unmarked double carbine car were weighbridge officials and police officers," Mutinda said.
"They never at any point flagged me down but instead threw spikes on the road which pricked the lorry’s front left tire making me lose its control.”
Mutinda spoke at the scene of accident in Lukenya, Machakos county, on Monday.
Amani Makau, a PP2 pupil at a local school in Athi River, died on the spot after she was ran over by the lorry during the incident.
“I had on the fateful day just joined the highway from National Cement Company Limited popularly known as Simba cement and when I got to Lukenya, I noticed a pickup overtaking me from the left (wrong side)," Mutinda said.
He said the two men who threw the spikes were in civilian attires.
Mutinda said he became unconscious immediately his lorry landed into a ditch only to find himself at Bishop Kioko Catholic Hospital in Machakos county. He recorded his statements at Athi River police station on Monday.
The lorry’s registration number was KCY 204D while the salon car which weighbridge officials used to chase it was a KDG 075K. The lorry belongs to Ishara Hardware Ltd.
Police sources said the occupants of the car that chased the lorry were weighbridge officials and officers attached to Axel Load Enforcement Unit.
On the other hand, the car that pursued Mutinda had been leased by Kenya National Highways Authority from a private company and assigned to Mlolongo Weighbridge.
A postmortem was conducted on the baby’s body by pathologist Dr Micheka Micheka at Shalom Community Hospital mortuary, Athi River branch, on Friday, April 16.
Samwel Mwendo, the lorry’s owner, said he wasn’t impressed by the officers. He questioned why the officers threw spikes at his vehicle.
“My driver got injured and a child killed just like that. Why couldn’t the officers act professionally by alerting cops from Kyumbi police station to intercept the vehicle by erecting a road block?” Mwendo said.
Mwendo said the accident had caused him losses since 220 bags of cement which was on transit from Simba Cement to Wote in Makueni county were destroyed.
He was forced to refund the money to the client, approximating the total loss to Sh143, 000.
Mwendo also said the damaged vehicle was new and he was still servicing its loan. Both Mwendo, Amani and the lorry’s driver are seeking justice.
Athi River subcounty police commander Anderson Njagi confirmed the incident.
Njagi, however, declined to issue details on the accident, directing journalists to Weighbridge police station despite the fact that the matter was reported at Athi River police station.
No senior officers authorised to speak to the press were available at Weighbridge police station in Mlolongo when reporters visited to get comments on the incident on Monday.
The deceased’s father, Dominic Makau, 31, said he received information on his daughter’s demise from some witnesses who know his family members.
“I had sent my family somewhere and the girl was in the company of her mother Virginia Kamanthe when the incident occurred,” Makau told the Star on the phone on Friday.
“On their way back after they had crossed the busy highway and as they were headed to board a boda boda to take them home, my wife mysteriously escaped while our daughter was killed by the lorry,” said.
Virginia cheated death, but sustained minor injuries and was admitted at Shalom Community Hospital where she was treated and later discharged.
Kamanthe, 26, said Amani was their only child.
(edited by Amol Awuor)