Githurai matatu crew charged with murder after pushing man out of bus

It is claimed that last year, the same bus crushed a college student who died after being pushed out for reportedly failing to alight at her destination. [Courtesy]

A driver and a conductor of a Githurai bus from which a man was pushed to his death last week have been charged at the Makadara Law Courts.

The driver Naftally Kalama Fondo, 33, and his conductor, Alex Macau Gikonyo, 20, of the bus christened Zam Zam that plies the Nairobi-Githurai route appeared before Chief Magistrate Hestone Nyaga on Friday.

The magistrate directed that the two be detained for two weeks to allow the police to complete investigations into the death of 24-year-old Gerald Kimondo.

A detective attached to Kasarani division in an affidavit asking for more days to probe the matter said Kimondo died on the spot after being pushed from the speeding bus by the crew.

The officer said the deceased had boarded the bus registration number KCC 021 ISUZU FRR headed to town, from which he was pushed before being crushed to death by a rear wheel.

“The incident happened on August 2 at Kastermill on Thika superhighway and from the information, the crew may have been involved. The case was initially reported as fatal and the conductor escaped from the scene immediately after the fatal crash,” reads the affidavit.

The deceased, as stated in the affidavit was intentionally thrown out of the moving bus thus raising malice.

The investigating officer told the court that he needed to further establish the cause of death by conducting expansive investigations.

In response, the driver who did not object to the detective’s application said he was driving along the road when he heard people scream and felt that the bus was unstable. He realised he had crushed the deceased.

It is claimed that last year, the same bus crushed a college student who died after being pushed out for reportedly failing to alight at her destination.

The two, however, denied getting involved in the accident that crushed the said woman alleging that they started operating the said bus early this year.

The court allowed the application and the suspects are held at Kasarani Police Station.