Ambulance lacked doctor, Monson inquest told

What you need to know:

  • Health worker testifies that there was nobody on board to perform medical procedures.
  • She said Mr Monson was not talking, there was dried saliva around his mouth and he could not walk.

An ambulance did not have a doctor on board when it went to pick the son of a British aristocrat at Diani Police Station to take him to hospital, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Ms Saumu Hamisi, a nursing assistant at Palm Beach Hospital, said in normal circumstances, after a request for an ambulance has been made, a doctor goes to check on the patient.

Ms Hamisi, who was testifying in an inquest into the death of Alexander Monson, said that while on duty on May 19, 2012, she was informed that there was a patient to be taken from the police station.

The nurse assistant said she took a first aid kit and the doctor on duty went to check if everything in the ambulance was in order.

“We did not go to the police station with the doctor or nurse in charge,” said Ms Hamisi, being questioned by assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Alexander Muteti.

The witness further told Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo that there was nobody on the ambulance to perform medical procedures.

Ms Hamisi said it is only the doctor on duty who can explain why he was not part of the team on the ambulance.

LYING BEHIND THE DESK

The witness said upon arrival, they saw a crowd surrounding the police station OB desk. The reception they received from the officers, she said, "was not bad".

Ms Hamisi further told the inquest that the officers showed her the patient, who was lying behind the desk.

The witness said Mr Monson was not talking, there was dried saliva around his mouth and he could not walk.

“In the ambulance, I did try to call him (Alexander) but there was no response, his pulse rate was low and blood pressure was normal,” said Ms Hamisi.

She said that upon arrival at the hospital, handed over the patient to the nurse and the doctor who attended to him.

TOLD TO WAIT

Another witness, Rosemary Kennaway, said she received a call from Mr Monson’s mother, Hilary Martin, who requested her to go to the police station and bail out her son.

Mrs Kennaway said despite their pleas to police officers to take Mr Monson to hospital, they were told to wait for the station commander.

The witness told the inquest that despite offering to pay a police cash bail of Sh20,000 to secure the release of Mr Monson, the officers insisted that she keeps her money until the OCS arrived.

“The officers did not tell me why he was arrested,” said Mrs Kennaway adding that she had not known the deceased to be violent.

Upon cross examination by lawyer Festus Kinoti, representing the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, she denied mentioning that the deceased was on drugs.

She described Mr Monson's condition at the police station as “a young man lying on the floor, he was breathing deeply and was very dehydrated. He was unconscious”.

On Monday Mr Monson’s mother gave an emotional account of the events that preceded the death of her son, who was then 28.

Alexander Monson, the son of Baron Nicholas John Monson, was arrested outside a club in Diani, Kwale County for allegedly smoking bhang.

The inquest continues.