The driver of the vehicle that killed Nyeri Governor Wahome
Gakuru has now come out to reveals vivid details of the tragic accident.
Samuel Kinyanjui, who is still nursing minor injuries at the
Nairobi Hospital, described the events that led to the death of his boss.
The driver painted a picture of a death that would have
been avoided but was hampered by a myriad of misfortunes.
“We were late but the governor told me not to speed
because it was raining and the road was slippery. I was driving around a speed
of between 105 and 110 kilometres per hour,” Kinjanjui recalled during an
interview with The Standard.
An hour into their journey, one of the rear tyres burst
forcing the driver to promptly reduce the speed. He adds that he had
deliberately opted to hit the rail guard.
“I realised that a lorry which was behind me was approaching
at a high speed. I had to swerve suddenly to avoid the lorry which was trying
to overtake me.
“I thought if I hit the guard rail the car would stop. I
feared that if the lorry hit me from the rear, it would push us into the middle
of the road and a cause multiple-cars accident,” Kinyanjui recalled.
Unfortunately, upon the impact of hitting the guard rail,
the airbag deployed which not only blocked his view, but also rammed his
foot still on the accelerator pedal.
With its high accelerating power, the force of the Mercedes
E250 rammed into the car’s body, Kinyanjui recalls at that moment, Gakuru
gasped “God!”
The Governor’s chase car would arrive minutes later and found the Mercedes still revving, although stuck in the guard rail.
"The driver’s foot was still on the accelerator and he
was stuck in his seat. I opened the door for the driver but he could not get
out as he was trapped. The governor was also trapped,” Peter Mwaniki, the
driver of the police chase car recalled.
Mwaniki further narrated that their first action was to rush
the bodyguard and Gakuru’s PA to Thika Level Five Hospital while at the same
time seeking help to get an ambulance
All this time, the injured governor was still stuck and was
groaning in pain and seeking help.
“The seat was stuck, we tried even breaking the window so we
could get him out but we were only able to do that when a lorry stopped and
gave us a rope that we used to tie to the seat and rip it off,” the driver
recalled.
A postmortem report showed that the deceased governor died
from excessive bleeding.
