Kenyan author, the late Ken Walibora. He died in April 2020.
A public inquest into the mysterious death of renowned author and former Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist Prof Ken Walibora has begun. It kicked off with a traffic police officer who was at the scene saying he was knocked by a speeding minibus near Machakos Country Bus Park five years ago.
Corporal Mwanagisi Hilal said that on April 10, 2020, she found Prof Walibora writing in pain while bleeding profusely with broken limbs.
Ms Hilal, currently serving at Pangani Police Station's traffic department, told the court that when Prof Walibora was knocked by the Double M Connections bus with registration number KBR 949S, she was serving at Kamukunji Police Station.
She told the court that she received a call from a traffic controller about an accident that occurred along Landhies Road at around 9.10am. She rushed to the scene 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 Nairobi Area.
"We were told by a witness that the pedestrian was knocked down by a vehicle that was heading towards the City Stadium direction," the officer stated.
Running 'as if fleeing from attackers'
The late Ken Walibora.
She said members of the public who witnessed the accident told them that he came from Muthurwa Market while running, as if he was fleeing from attackers.
He had allegedly crossed one side of the dual carriageway when he was knocked down.
Ms Hilal told the court that the scene of the accident is a known blackspot since there is no footbridge or pedestrian crossing and motorists drive at high speed.
Upon arrival, she found the victim unconscious and lying beside the road in a pool of blood.
“He had visible serious injuries on his head, a fracture on the left hand and leg and had three teeth knocked out” the magistrate heard.
She then called for an ambulance which rushed Prof Walibora to Kenyatta National Hospital.
Later, a colleague handed her a press card bearing the name Ken Walibora Waliaula, Sh2,000 and Mercedes Benz car keys which were recovered from the body. She handed these over to PC Vincent Bakari who was in charge of investigations.
The traffic controller called Cpl 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 towed the vehicle to Kamukunji Police Station for further investigations.
"The vehicle was an Isuzu minibus owned by Double M Connections Company," she noted.
The epitaph on the Ken Walibora's grave at his home in Makutano kwa Ngozi (Bonde) village, Cherangany in Trans-Nzoia.
Members of the late Ken Walibora's family stand next to his grave at his home in Makutano kwa Ngozi (Bonde) village, Cherangany in Trans-Nzoia County on April 08, 2021.
Cpl Hilal testified that she later learnt the accident victim had died days later.
"We proceeded to the mortuary to confirm the particulars of the victim. He was the one whom we had taken to KNH," the officer told the court.
They identified the body of Prof Walibora while in the company of Mr David Wasike, a family member of the renown Swahili scholar and author of Siku Njema, a novel published in 1996.
Hearing continues.
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