Soldier kills clinician and flees into barracks

A soldier believed to have been driving under the influence of alcohol killed a clinical officer and then fled into barracks in Mombasa.

The officer, attached to Mtongwe Naval Base, on Monday ploughed into pedestrians with his personal car around 7 pm. Two other people were injured.

Police said before hitting the three people, he had hit and killed a cow. Police claim they are unable to get the unidentified soldier from the barracks.

Likoni Sub-county police boss Jane Munywoki confirmed that a clinical officer was killed.

“It is true the driver of the ill-fated car is an officer at Mtongwe Navy. One person died and two others were injured and our traffic police officers have launched investigations into the cause of the accident,” she said.

It is unclear whether local police have sought the surrender of the suspect. In the past, soldiers involved in crime have fled into the barracks, with the military authorities refusing to surrender them to the police.

The slain clinical officer worked at St Thomas Hospital in Likoni and was identified as Ezekiel Nyairo. He died on the spot while a boda boda rider and his passenger sustained serious injuries.

When the car stopped, the soldier jumped out and fled.

Soita Elphas, who witnessed the accident, said he saw a speeding car hit a cow, which died on the spot.

He said the car did not stop and after a few minutes, he heard people screaming. When he rushed to the scene to see what was happening, he saw three people lying on the ground; one of them, a man, had been crashed against a tree.

At St Thomas Hospital, employees and patients were yet to come to terms with Nyairo’s death. The hospital administrator, Kimara Nyadegas, said Nyairo was going home after working the whole day.

He said Nyairo, who joined the facility in early 2018, had been jovial and was looking forward to resuming work the following day. “I received a distress call around 11.15 pm that one of my staff had died. I rushed to the scene and found his lifeless body,” he said.

Mr Nyadegas said the clinical officer hailed from Miruka in Nyamira County.

Meanwhile, Rukia Kombo, another victim, is nursing injuries to her hands and head. Kombo was heading to her relative’s home when the accident happened.

Kombo, the daughter of a retired naval officer, wants justice done. She said she needs specialised treatment that her family cannot afford.

And a former GSU officer who died on Sunday after he was allegedly clobbered by a police officer in Likoni suffered perforated intestines, a postmortem examination has shown.

Mr Hamisi Mbega died at Msambweni hospital where he had been admitted.

The report by Adbdulrhaman Cidi indicated that the perforation of Mbega’s intestines were caused by blows to his stomach.

“As a result of my examination, I formed the opinion that the cause of death was haemorrhagic shock due to multiple perforations in the gut causing abdominal trauma,” said Dr Cidi, who conducted the autopsy at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital.

This came as regional police boss  Rashid Yakub warned that action would be taken against officers found to have attacked citizens while enforcing the 7 pm-5 am curfew.

He said the incident was under investigation.