Man's pain after wife and son electrocuted

The bodies of Hannah Wambui,80,and her 40 year old son Dominic Thuku from Ng'ethu village in Gatundu North who were electrified after an electric shock.It is alleged Thuku had connected power illegally from a Kenya Power electricity pole near their home.Kenya power officials warned residents against illegal connections terming them as dangerous.PHOTO BY KAMAU MAICHUHIE.

Ndung’u Baiya, 85, from Ng’ethu village in Gatundu North, vividly remembers his wife’s call for help one fateful morning last week.

It is a memory that will stay with Mr Baiya for quite some time. His wife of more than 40 years, Hannah Wambui, was washing utensils in the kitchen when she started screaming.

Her son Dominic Thuku, 40, was the first to rush to the kitchen, where he found his mother severely burnt after an electric fault. Thuku, too, was electrocuted as he tried to assist.

Both son and mother died in a few minutes.

Mzee Baiya said he was taking tea in the main house when he heard screams from his wife and son, before everything went dead silent.

“When I went to find out what was going on outside, I found my wife already dead while my son, who seemed to have been severely burnt, was writhing in pain. He died minutes later,” said Mr Baiya.

The father of four said it was painful for him to lose a wife and a son at ago.

“It is very painful. Death is so cruel. They were all fine and they are now gone. I loved them but God loved them more,” he said amid tears.

A neighbour, Joseph Kibugi, who had also rushed to help the woman and her son was not spared either as he was also nearly faced the same fate. Kibugi was lucky because neighbours who had rushed to the home rescued him on time by hitting him with a dry wood, thus saving his life.

He was rushed to the nearby Igegania Level 4 hospital where he was treated before being discharged later.

Fredrick Waweru, a neighbour, said he was in his farm when he heard people screaming and decided to go and check what was going on.

“We used a dry wood to hit the third casualty and rescue him from imminent death. He was thrown several metres away, but he survived,” he said.

What is more painful for the family and residents is that the electricity that killed a mother and her son and almost killed their neighbour was an illegal connection that had been done by Mr Baiya’s son.

Area chief Antony Njoroge confirmed Thuku had made an illegal connection from a nearby Kenya Power pole to his home and then to his mother’s kitchen.

The administrator cautioned residents against illegal connections, terming the action dangerous.