Jirongo’s death mystery: It was a car crash, but...

Government pathologist Johansen Oduor and his colleagues hired by Mr Jirongo’s family and friends – Joseph Ndung’u, Bernard Midia and Martin Wanyoike – on Wednesday said that the injuries that claimed Mr Jirongo’s life were consistent with the car crash.

The postmortem report was the wind that would power the sails of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which on Tuesday initiated a probe into Mr Jirongo’s death.

In a statement, the DCI said it had interviewed Tyrus Kamau Githinji, the Climax Coaches driver whose vehicle crashed into Mr Jirongo’s, and staff from the Eagol petrol station that the former Lugari MP exited moments before the collision.

At the tail end of his address on Wednesday, Dr Oduor said that his team extracted other samples for further analysis owing to questions that remain unanswered.

“The late Jirongo died from very severe chest injuries resulting from crash injuries, as clearly explained by the doctors. This post-mortem forms part of an ongoing investigation. We have concluded our examination, but we have also taken samples for further analysis due to ongoing speculation,” Dr Oduor said.

Read: Questions linger over Cyrus Jirongo’s last moments after fatal car crash

“Beyond what we observed in the mortuary, samples have been taken for toxicological analysis. The samples were taken in sets: some will be analysed by the Government Chemist and others by the family-appointed pathologist. We ask the public to be patient as investigations continue. We have also taken samples for DNA analysis,” Dr Oduor added.

Impact from the crash left Mr Jirongo’s abdomen, spine and chest with serious injuries. He died before being removed from the car.

“The body had multiple injuries and fractures. There were two fractures involving the right hand, fractures of both lower limbs, and a severe crush injury to the chest with multiple rib fractures. There was perforation of the heart with rupture of most of the vessels connecting to it. There was bleeding in the chest cavity, crush injuries extending to the abdomen, and a crushed liver with bleeding into the abdominal cavity. There was also a transection of the spinal cord at the thoracic level,” Dr Ndung’u, who represented Mr Jirongo’s family during the postmortem, said.

Dr Midia, the second family pathologist, and Dr Wanyoike who treated Mr Jirongo and his family, also concurred with the postmortem findings by Dr Oduor’s team.

Former Vihiga Senator George Khaniri, one of the last people to see and speak with Mr Jirongo, was among the first to raise suspicion over Mr Jirongo’s death, as he questioned what the former legislator was doing in Karai, where his Mercedes Benz had a head on collision with a Cimax Coaches bus.

The former Senator and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula spent time with Mr Jirongo in Karen, hours before the crash. The three were served at Karen Oasis restaurant.

Mr Khaniri last Saturday said he spoke to Mr Jirongo at around 11pm the night before, to remind the former Lugari MP that they had an important meeting the following day hence everyone should go home and get enough rest.

Mr Khaniri added that Mr Jirongo confirmed that he was about to leave for home, in Gigiri.

But three hours later, Mr Jirongo was pronounced dead, approximately 76 kilometres from his Gigiri home.

“There have been many questions and glaring gaps surrounding the death of our brother, and we have consistently said we want answers. What happened today is part of that process. The post-mortem has revealed the cause of death. However, there are other extraneous matters still being investigated by the DCI,” Mr Khaniri said after the postmortem at the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi on Wednesday.

“We plead for patience. We understand the matter is very emotive and has generated significant political and public interest. Still, we would like to ask that we wait for the full report so that the many questions raised can be properly addressed. Today’s post-mortem is just stage one. It does not answer all the questions, which we hope the DCI will address in due course,” the former Vihiga Senator added.

By Wednesday evening, the DCI and traffic police in Naivasha were yet to record statements from any of the 67 Climax Coaches passengers, who automatically became critical witnesses by virtue of sitting in the Busia-bound bus.

Dangerous driving

Following the pathologists’ conclusion that Mr Jirongo’s injuries were consistent with those sustained in such a crash, the DCI opted to transfer the investigation file back to the Naivasha traffic police.

The Naivasha traffic police had initiated an investigation into the Climax Coaches driver, Mr Githinji, to establish whether he caused Mr Jirongo’s death through dangerous driving.

Mr Githinji had claimed in his statement that Mr Jirongo was overtaking other vehicles when the collision occurred.

But the DCI on Tuesday said that Mr Jirongo had just exited Eagol petrol station at the time of the crash.

CCTV footage seen by the Daily Nation, captured Jirongo, entering the petrol station at 2:18:43, coming from Nairobi direction, he however drove through and did not fuel nor talk to anyone and went ahead and exited the station.

The footage further shows Jirongo's vehicle stopping before joining the highway driving for some seconds, before it collided with the climax bus which was coming from Nairobi general direction.

Read: Eyewitnesses: Cyrus Jirongo’s final moments before crash

When traffic police officers arrived at the scene in Karai early Saturday morning, they secured the scene and took evidence before towing the two vehicles to the police station.

An inventory of items in the vehicle was, however, not taken. A police officer on Tuesday explained that in traffic incidents, it is up to the first responding officer to make judgment on whether to take an inventory or not.

At the climax bus company’s junkyard and stop-over in Elementaita, Gilgil sub-county, a few kilometers from the accident scene, business continued as usual.

Buses owned by the Climax Transport Company streamed in, ferrying passengers.

Inside the facility, are a garage and a petrol station, where several buses were refueling, alongside various hotels and general shops where passengers stop to refresh themselves and use restrooms before continuing their journeys. 

For the third time detectives from the homicide department visited the scene where Jirongo was involved in an accident, along Nakuru-Nairobi Highway.

In a statement, the DCI noted that it deployed a multi-agency team comprising homicide detectives and forensic experts from the National Forensic Laboratory.

One of the first responders, Peter Kamau, said that he was alerted with a loud bang, in the wee hours and upon arrival on the highway he found a white Mercedes Benz and climax bus had been involved in an accident.

He said together with nine other responders, they tried to rescue the occupant in the Mercedes Benz, but the door had been locked, and they had to use an  axe to free Jirongo’ s body from the wreckage.

Read: DCI starts probe into Cyrus Jirongo's death, talks to last people to see him alive 

According to Kamau, a motorcycle mechanic within Karai, the occupant who was alone in the vehicle had slumped over the steering wheel, facing upwards, with blood visible on his head.

"We have been responding to accidents since this place is a blackspot, when I heard the loud bang I just rushed outside. I just live a few meters from the highway. We did not know who the man was, we were just trying to help as responders. Unfortunate he was dead, and we had to wait for police officers to arrive,’’ he recalled

The 21-year-old mechanic said that in Jirongos’s vehicle they found a bottle of alcohol which had been drank half and a packet of cigarettes.

According to Kamau, the visibly shaken passengers stayed at the scene for around 10 minutes before another climax bus came and picked them and continued with their journey.

‘’Yes the bus had passengers, they alighted from the bus and they were transferred to another and they continued with their journey. There were about more than 40 passengers, some of them were recording videos and taking photos. There was traffic jam on the lane he was supposed to use after joining the highway,’’ he said.

Reporting by Mercy Koskei, Steve Otieno, Kamore Maina and Nyaboga Kiage