Ex-CMC boss denies killing security guard

Joel Kamau Kibe and scene from the accident in Runda Estate, Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | COURTESY | MASHADA.COM

What you need to know:

  • Mr Kibe is said to have rammed his Range Rover Vogue into a security sentry box on February 2, last year and in the process knocking down Charles Wachira, a guard who died on his way to Kiambu district hospital.
  • The County Assembly had passed a resolution and recommended that the barriers erected be removed because they do not meet the set standards, but the recommendation had not been complied with.

Former CMC Group director Joel Kamau Kibe has denied he intentionally caused the death of a guard last year in Runda Estate, Nairobi through dangerous driving.

Mr Kibe is said to have rammed his Range Rover Vogue into a security sentry box on February 2, last year and in the process knocking down Charles Wachira, a guard who died on his way to Kiambu district hospital.

The other guard who was in the box also sustained injuries.

He had sparked outrage last year after a video emerged of him speaking at the accident scene, where he allegedly made comments in Kiswahili to the effect that his car had been damaged and so everyone involved had suffered.

Mr Kibe, who is currently out on Sh100,000 cash bail, defended himself saying that he was cautious and that he was driving carefully as he had always done.

He however, claimed that there were no road signs warning about the bumps which had been erected on the roads. This he said, had exposed the guards hired by Runda Residents Association, whose member he had hit.

He told Milimani Principal Magistrate Benson Nzyako that he had unintentionally rammed his car on the plastic sentry-box erected by the roadside, while trying to avoid hitting a metallic bar that was manually being operated by the guards.

“I had offered to assist the two guards but a group of people who came to the scene made it difficult for me when they insisted that the police had to be called first,” Mr Kibe.

In his opinion, the accident would have been avoided had the barriers been removed as had been recommended by the Nairobi County government.

The County Assembly had passed a resolution and recommended that the barriers erected be removed because they do not meet the set standards, but the recommendation had not been complied with.

“I blame the Runda Residents Association for putting up inferior barriers and putting their guards in plastic sentry-boxes on the road, thereby exposing them to high risk,” Mr Kibe explained in his defence.

He is charged with causing death by careless driving, while under the influence of alcohol.

According to the prosecution, Mr Kibe had on February 2, 2016 at around 3am along the UN Avenue near whispers in Gigiri area within Nairobi County, drove his vehicle in a manner which was dangerous to other road users in that he knocked a sentry box where the security guard, Mr Wachira, was injured and later died.

Further, that he drove his Range Rover under the influence of alcohol beyond the required limit.

The case will be mentioned on April 5.