Inquest into late Nyeri Governor’s death to proceed in June

Governor Wahome Gakuru (inset) met his death when his official car hit a guardrail that tore into it from the front passenger seat. [Photo, File]

The public inquest into the death of former Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru will start afresh in June.

This  follows the arrest of a trial magistrate in connection with murder of her husband.

The inquest, at the Nyeri law court, suffered a setback after the first hearing following the arrest of Senior Resident Magistrate, Maisy Chesang who is accused of being behind the murder of her late lawyer husband Robert Chesang.

Nyeri Chief Magistrate, Wendy Kagendo, directed the inquest to restart on June 25 after the state applied to have the hearing proceed.

The inquest is trying to establish circumstances that led to the Governor’s death in a road accident at Kabati area along Nyeri-Nairobi highway on November 7, 2017.

Ms Kagendo further said the inquest would proceed for seven days up to July 11 so as to have the matter finalized expeditiously.

The late Governor met his death when his official car- Mercedes E250-car hit a guardrail that tore into the car from the front passenger seat where the governor was seated and exited from the boot.

At the start of the inquest, three witnesses led by late governor’s private Personal Assistant Josphat Maina and two bodyguards, Corporals Peter Maigua and Samson Lekol gave an account of what transpired during the fateful day.

The witnesses told the court that following the crash, the governor stayed at the scene for more than 40 minutes bleeding profusely before any help arrived.

During cross examination by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Peter Mairanyi, Corporal Lekol who was in the governor’s chase car said his blood was flowing through the guard rail as they struggled to rescue him.

He continued that the vehicle was travelling at a speed of about 130 km per hour since the county boss was in a hurry to attend a live television show with a local station.

The officer further said it was misty throughout the journey from Nyeri town and the road was slippery following the heavy rains that were pounding many parts of the country at the time.

The crash according to the witnesses occurred when the governor’s driver, Samuel Kinyanjui, overtook a lorry and skid occasioning it to ram into the guardrail.

The court heard that the governor was calm as members of the public who had turned up following the crash struggled to free him. The witnesses said the guardrail had torn through his flesh on the hips and back.

The governor was accompanied by his personal assistant, Albert Gakuru and a security guard identified as Ahmed Khaliff Abdi in his vehicle according to witnesses. The two escaped death but sustained serious injuries.

Kinyanjui who was initially driving a county ambulance, had driven the governor for three weeks prior to the fatal crash.

The state has lined up 20 witnesses in the inquest.