The events of Friday, April 10, leading up to the death of the renowned author and Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist Ken Walibora, have raised questions over the nature of his death.
This follows a report by Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor, following the post mortem carried out on the body of the deceased, which revealed several suspicious injuries, as well as eyewitness reports.
"There was a cut between the thumb and the index finger. It was about 7cm long, and it was also about the same measurement in depth. It looked like something sharp. It looked like something sharp, it was like someone probably was trying to stab him but he was trying to defend himself so it got into the hand," he narrated.
"There were bruises on the head on the left side. There was a fracture of the left upper arm and when we opened the body, there was bleeding in the brain. In fact, all those injuries I've talked about were on the right side not the left side," he further explained.
His death, which had been pegged to an accident in which he was hit by a matatu on Landhies Road in Nairobi at around 9:30 a.m., was further cast in doubt after some eyewitnesses claimed that he was being chased by unidentified individuals.
"He was running away from street children and he jumped across Landhies Road, however, he was then hit by a matatu when crossing the outbound section of the busy road," one of the witnesses told Citizen TV reporters
"He was running across the road when the matatu heading out of town at high speed ran him over," another witness recounted.
Walibora's mysterious death took yet another twist, with eyewitnesses claiming that the first responders on the scene was a St John's ambulance, which failed to whisk him away for emergency treatment.
However, St Johns Ambulance has since denied the assertions, linking the witness statements to confusion.
"St John's ambulance was not alerted about this incident, neither did any of St John's ambulances move along Landhied Road or adjacent routes where the accident is said to have occurred. This has been confirmed after checking all the St John's call centre logs and ambulance GPS movements on the said date,
In the past, we have seen people confuse certain ambulances branded with same colours as that of St John ambulance, and this could be one of those rare cases," the statement issued by St John's Ambulance Communications Manager Fred Majiwa, dated April 18, reads in part.
It was a Nairobi County Government ambulance that rushed him to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for the much-needed emergency treatment, where the story of his death raised even more questions.
According to the report aired on Citizen TV, Walibora remained unattended at the hospital's emergency area from 10:30 a.m. until his death at around 12 midnight.
The police stated that they are looking to explain how his vehicle was found along Kijabe Street, which is approximately 13 minutes from where he was run hit by the matatu.
Friends and loved ones held a memorial service in his honour on Saturday, April 18, with reports further revealing that he is set to be laid to rest on Wednesday, April 22.
Prior to his death, Walibora served as the Kiswahili quality manager for the NMG, where he oversaw all the Kiswahili platforms, from newspapers to broadcasting as well as the Swahili Hub web portal.
The circumstances surrounding his death were eerily similar to those of two other journalists from the same media house, who passed away in the last two months, Raphael Nzioki (March 7), and Christine Omulando (March 16).
The homicide unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has since taken over investigations into Walibora's death following the autopsy that revealed he may have suffered stab wounds, Daily Nation reported.
“The wound on the right hand was caused by a sharp trauma. When someone is hit by a vehicle, the wound is usually indicative of being hit by a blunt object. This one was sharp,” the government's chief pathologist further revealed.
Watch Walibora's autopsy report below:
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