Traffic Officer Details Ken Walibora’s Fatal Accident Before Milimani Court

A traffic police officer has testified before the Milimani Magistrate’s court during the inquest of the late author and journalist, the late Ken Walibora Waliaula, detailing the occurrence on the fateful day he died.

While testifying before Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai, Corporal Mwanagisi Hilal, by then attached at Kamukunji Police Station, described what transpired on the fateful morning after receiving a call from a traffic controller.

Hilal, who is currently attached to the Pangani Police Station Traffic Department, told the court that the incident occurred on April 10, 2020, along Landhies Road, near Machakos Country Bus.

The officer said that, at around 9:10 AM, she was informed by the traffic controller about the accident that had happened near the Machakos Country Bus. She rushed to the scene together with her colleague and found a male adult who had been knocked down by a vehicle. At the scene, they met police constable John Ojijo from the Nairobi Area,

“A witness told us that the vctim was knocked down by a motor vehicle that was heading towards the City Stadium direction,” the officer said.

They were informed by the members of the public that the person came from Muthurwa Market running, crossed one side of the dual carriageway and was knocked down while crossing the other side.

She told the court that the scene is a dangerous place since there is no footbridge or zebra crossing, and the vehicles came at high speed.

The said person was unconscious, lying beside the road on a pool of blood and had visible serious injuries on the head, a fracture on the left hand and leg, and three teeth were missing.

She called for an ambulance, which came and took the person to Kenyatta National Hospital in the company of PC Ojijo.

Later, his colleague handed her a press card bearing the name Ken Walibora Waliaula, a two-thousand-shilling note and Mercedes-Benz car keys, which she gave to PC Vincent Bakari, who was in charge of the investigations.

The traffic controller again called Hilal, informing her that the vehicle alleged to have knocked the victim was at Buruburu Police Station, where she rushed in the company of her colleague, and the car was brought to Kamukunji Police Station.

“The vehicle was an Isuzu bus from Double M Connections company, registration number KBR 949S,” she said.

The officer told the court that the said bus was driven to Kamukunji Police Station by the same driver alleged to have caused the accident, but she did not get the name.

Hilal testified that she came to know of the death of the victim three days later. Jointly with her two colleagues, she decided to follow up on the same and proceeded to Kenyatta National Hospital,

“We were informed that the victim died the day after the accident. We proceeded to the mortuary to confirm if the particular victim was the one,” the officer told the court.

They confirmed the person was the one and David Wasike from the victim’s family, and confirmed that he was their kin.

Corporal Hilal told the court that she later handed the matter to the investigating officer.