Surgeon: I was waiting for my turn to die after they killed my wife

A top ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon was on Thursday evening discharged from Thika Level Five Hospital where he had been admitted at the intensive care unit after a gang raided his home, shot him four times in the head, upper chest and arm shortly after killing his wife on Tuesday.

Dr Kimani Kagimbi, the leading ENT surgeon at Murang'a County Level Four Hospital, lost his wife in the 1am attack.

A postmortem examination has revealed that she was shot in the belly. Three bullets were recovered from her body.

VOID AND GRIEF

The doctor, who is now recovering at his home in Ngoingwa estate in Thika, Kiambu County, painfully but vividly recalls the events that led to the incident that has left his two daughters, one in Standard Seven and another in Form Four, without their mother.

Dr Kagimbi has been forced to put on a brave face to enable his young daughters cope with the situation. He says it is difficult to forgive the culprits who left an irreparable void and grief upon his family.

The family's househelp, Ann Juma, witnessed everything that happened on that fateful night as she was the one who opened the gate for her employers after receiving a call instructing her to do so from the doctor's wife.

SCREAMING

"I opened the gate, they drove in and parked the car. However, as I closed the gate, someone held me. I screamed and he slapped me. Immediately another man made his way into the compound and ordered me to join my bosses in their vehicle which I did and immediately mama locked the car doors and began screaming for help. I asked her to stop screaming fearing the thugs might kill us but she wouldn't," recalled the house-help.

At that point, Dr Kagimbi said that one of the thugs moved forward and shot at his wife three times, in the process shattering the car's windows. His wife died at the parking lot.

"The house-help and I were then driven up to the main road. All the while they were ordering me to speak but I did not respond to them despite their hard slaps. Upon reaching the main road, they stopped and shot at me, then left in a waiting car," the doctor recalled.

Dr Kagimbi said that at the time, he had given up hope of surviving the incident.

STILL BREATHING

"I was waiting for my turn to die. I knew I would eventually and that is why I did not respond to them. When I look back, I feel that my decision not to speak somehow saved my life," said Dr Kagimbi.

The doctor was shot as his househelp watched. She had been ordered to remain quiet at the back seat of the family's car.

"They had ordered me to lie down at the back seat and every time I raised my head to peep, they pointed their gun towards me," said Ann.

After the thugs left, Ann checked if Dr Kagimbi was still alive and found that he was still breathing. She then moved out of the car and started running back home screaming for help.

"When I got to the house, I found the gate wide open and mama sprawled on the floor. I felt her pulse and realised she was dead. I screamed for help, this time calling out names of our neighbours. Neighbours who responded picked up doctor and rushed him to hospital," she said.

DIDN'T STEAL

The two thugs waylaid the couple in a thicket next to their home. Ann only recalls that the thugs were unmasked, unfamiliar to her and only in possession of one pistol.

The family's two children remain shaken by the incident.

Dr Kagimbi said he is yet to figure out what in particular the thugs were after seeing that they did not steal the money he had in his pockets, phone and car.

"I cannot tell if they were after my life or my car. I had Sh24,000 and a phone in my pocket which they did not steal. I also do not think of it as an issue to do with my work place because I have been on the frontline calling for employment of more ENT specialists to ease the pressure on me and my two assistants. On a daily basis I attend to more than 70 patients," said Dr Kagimbi.

He said he also sees no connection of the incident to his wife's work and poultry business.

PERMANENT SOLUTION

The doctor said that his daughters constantly feel insecure at their own home, but he doesn't consider moving to a different location.

"The security of this place is not good especially for those who work or move around at night but I cannot leave this place because moving out does not put an end to the problem. What is needed is a permanent solution, including beefing up security and fencing off the entire estate to control the number of exit and entry points," he said.

His wife will be buried on Thursday.

POLICE POST

Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina, who visited the doctor at his home on Friday night, said he would ensure that culprits behind the murder of the doctor's wife and six others who have been killed in the constituency in the recent past are brought to book.

He also promised to speed up the lighting of the estate through installation of street lights as well as construction of a perimeter wall around the estate.

"We need to see more changes within the top police organs in Thika because recent changes only saw junior staff reshuffled which has not resulted in reduction of crime. In addition, I shall ensure that public land that had been set aside for construction of a police post is reclaimed from land grabbers," Mr Wainaina said.