'I stopped a police bullet. And I want justice'

Kinale Ward Member of County Assembly Njuguna Muriithi has a word with his father David Warui after visiting him at the Kijabe Mission Hospital on May 22, 2017. Warui was shot on May 13 at Fly Over area. PHOTO | MACHARIA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA

When we visit Kijabe Mission Hospital on a cold Monday afternoon, we find David Warui in a roller coaster of thoughts.

Visibly in pain, the 57-year-old small-holder farmer in Lari Village in Kiambu County says he is lucky to be alive.

BULLET

He struggles to turn in his hospital bed as he tries to pay attention to the unexpected visitors that we are.

Warui is a victim of a "stray bullet" that nearly snuffed life out of him on Saturday, May 13, 2017.

Police have not issued a statement on the incident in which one person killed.

He vividly recalls the life-changing moment that has kept him hospitalised for the last one and a half weeks.

Warui had walked to St Michael Clinic, located at Fly Over on the Nairobi-Naivasha highway, to seek treatment for a nagging knee problem.

“I had been attended to and paid Sh1,500 for my medication,” he recalls as he winces in soreness.

BLOOD

He had arrived at the clinic early enough as he had planned to join his relatives in a dowry ceremony later in the day.

Across from the medical facility, he could see a group of youths barricading the busy highway, chanting political slogans. Nothing untoward, he was undistracted.

But in a flash, he spotted a young man being chased by an armed policeman and was heading towards the pharmacy at the clinic.

“He managed to get in but fell on me. I felt a gush of hot blood and knew I had been shot,” recalls the farmer.

“Things happened fast, but I could still remember covering the flesh wound with my bare hands to stop the bleeding,” he adds.

The medics inside were frenetic as they gave him first aid to stop the bleeding.

DEEP PAIN

He was in deep pain.

“I managed to give them my older brother's telephone number and they informed him that I had been shot,” he recalls.

His son, who is also Kinale MCA Njuguna Muriithi, says he was near the scene and helped ferry his injured father to hospital.

“He was in a bad condition when I took him to the hospital,” he tells the Nation

“It was a race against time.”

The ward leader said a bullet is still lodged in his father’s torso and doctors will remove it once the patient’s condition improves.

But the farmer is still at a loss as to why the police decided to use live bullets to quell the protest.

“Every time I recall the moment, I become anxious and lose sleep. It has been a harrowing experience,” he says.

SHOT DEAD

The ward representative echoes these sentiments and now wants a thorough investigation into the shooting.

“We want a foolproof query to establish what transpired during the protest as my father was not among the demonstrators,” says Muriithi.

During the protest, 23-year-old Samuel Muiruri, a youth leader popularly known as “Professor”, was shot and succumbed to his injuries at Kijabe Mission Hospital.

The youths were protesting the ruling of the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal on Jubilee Party nominations for the Nyandarua woman rep race.

They were angry that the tribunal ruled in favour of incumbent Woman Rep Wanjiku Muhia, who had lost to Faith Gitau in the nomination.

The decision has since been overturned and Ms Gitau was handed the Jubilee certificate.