Mother who lost four children in Migori accident being held in hospital over unpaid bills

Margaret Magutu (centre) is consoled by her friends at St. Akidiva Hospital in Kuria on Sunday. She was admitted for the shock she suffered after her four children were killed when a lorry crashed into their house at Mabera Shopping Centre on Saturday. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

A woman who lost four children when a lorry crashed into their house in Migori County on Saturday has been detained by a hospital over bills.

Margaret Magutu, 45, is unable to clear her bill of Sh29,500 at St Akidiva Hospital in Mabera.

The hospital’s director, Richard Gibiti, says it is not clear how the bill will be settled.

“We can give a waiver but how about the medication we bought and gave her? She has also used facilities we have paid for. This community has many poor people, meaning we cannot pay bills for everybody,” he says.

Bad dream

Ms Magutu remained inconsolable at the hospital as tears flowed freely down her face.

“What will happen to me? How will I ever bury my children,” she said.

She smiles when she recounts what she says are great moments with her children.

“John Magaiwa, who was 15 years old, always helped me light the fire to roast and boil maize. Elizabeth Robi, 13, cried when she got her first mathematical set because she loved the subject, while Paulina Boke, 10, wanted to be a newscaster. Vincent, who was seven, often waited for me to arrive home before going to bed,” she said.

Magutu adds: “Everything feels like a bad dream. I pray that I don’t wake up every time I go to I sleep so I that I don’t remember what happened. I cannot believe I lost four children. Yet I cannot leave the hospital to bury them because of bills.”

She was admitted to the hospital and treated for the acute shock she suffered after the accident. The four children died on the spot while the fifth one suffered injuries.

Magutu says she moved to the area five years ago after fleeing from her matrimonial home in Sirare due to domestic violence.

It has been a painful journey for her as she worked hard to start afresh and give her children a better life. “I wanted a place where I would live peacefully with my children. I wanted them to attend school without the chaos that punctuated my marriage. I feel so sad that I lost them,” she says.

Magutu says she chose the house near the road because she sells maize by the roadside.

A neighbour, Hesborn Onyango, recalls seeing the family arrive in tattered clothes and barefoot and settling in the house. Magutu paid Sh1,500 a month as rent.

She would work in people’s homes during the day then sell maize by the roadside in the evening and late at night.

Blinding lights

Magutu said she heard a loud bang around 11.30pm followed by screams. She heard one of her sons calling out her name. Before she could establish what had happened, there was a deafening silence.

“When I went to where the children were sleeping to see what was happening, I was met by  blinding lights. I later realised it was a vehicle that had crashed into our house,” she says.

The police said the lorry that rammed Magutu’s was transporting sand. The driver lost control of the vehicle.

Neighbours, using their bare hands, worked  frantically to remove the rubble and pull out the children. However, only one, Colleta Ncangwa, a Form One student at Kugisigisi Secondary, survived.

“The lorry’s tyres missed me by inches. I could feel a metal on my chest,” Colleta told The Standard team that visited her at Akidiva Hospital, where she is also admitted.

“I kept telling God to spare my children. They were the only reason I worked so hard in life,” Magutu said.

Magutu collapsed on learning that her children had died and that is how she ended up in hospital.