Lawyer Assa Nyakundi shoots son dead

A family was on Sunday thrown into mourning after a top lawyer in Nairobi shot and killed his son in their car in a macabre accident.

Mr Assa Nyakundi told police he was driving with his 29-year-old son Joseph when he accidentally shot him in the chest.

The two were driving in a salon and had arrived near their house in Muthaiga at about 1pm and stopped when Mr Nyakundi decided to change the position of his pistol in the car.

They had left ICC Church along Mombasa Road and were driving to their house in Muthaiga.

Nyakundi is a licensed gun holder and had a Glock pistol with 15 bullets with him at that time. He runs a law firm -Nyakundi and Company Advocates -in Nairobi.

Among those he represents in court include Nyeri Magistrate Pauline Chesang who has been charged with the murder of her husband and lawyer Robert Chesang. He is also representing a number of suspects in the National Youth Service Two case.

He told police that as he changed the pistol from a pouch in the car to a holster, it discharged a single bullet that hit his son in the chest.

Nyakundi rushed the son to Aga Khan Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

He later went to Muthaiga Police station where he reported the matter. The weapon with 14 bullets were confiscated.

Nairobi police boss Philip Ndolo said they are investigating the incident.

“It is unfortunate a life has been lost more so his son. We are looking into the incident,” said Ndolo.

Nyakundi told The Standard he had shot his son accidentally.

His friends and relatives rushed to Muthaiga police station and hospital on getting the news.

Vetting

The incident comes at a time when the Firearms Licensing Board is vetting gun private gun owners in the country. The board said more than 6,000 firearms owners in Nairobi had turned up for the exercise that ended on March 7.

The vetting process involves psychiatric assessment by a Government psychologist, criminal record checks, and ballistic testing of the weapon(s) and ammunition by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The Board is issuing vetted gun owners with new smart licenses and concurrently working towards establishing a centralized Electronic Register of all private citizens holding firearms in the country.

This is less than the 15,000 registered private gun owners in the country.

“The exercise will continue in other regions. Those vetted in Nairobi cannot be used gauge the overall number of owners in the country,” said head of the board Charles Mukinda.

So far more than 400 firearms including sophisticated military weaponry have been confiscated and 36 gun licenses improperly issued to civilians have been revoked.

Additionally, more than 6,000 assorted ammunition have been seized during the ongoing vetting of gun owners.