Missing Treasury employee killed in hit-and-run accident, say police

The missing Treasury employee Evans Chirchir died in a hit-and-run accident along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa Highway; this is according to Athi River South Subcounty police commander Philis Muthoni.

Muthoni said Chirchir was hit by a motor vehicle and died on the spot along the highway in the Kyumbi area within Machakos County on August 31, 2024.

The same day police found his body and removed it to Machakos Level 5 hospital mortuary, where his relatives identified it on Wednesday.

A postmortem was done on the body at a private mortuary within Machakos Township, where it had been transferred to on Thursday.

“The man died on the spot after he was knocked down by a hit-and-run motor vehicle. This was revealed after our officers revisited the scene of the incident and collected debris that helped in forensic investigations,” Muthoni exclusively told the Star on Thursday.

The police boss said debris from the motor vehicle’s window with its number plate was among what was collected by the officers from the scene, leading to the successful identification of the motor vehicle involved, its owner, and the person who was on the wheel when the incident occurred.

She said the person, a male adult, who was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred has been arrested and will be arraigned in court to face relevant charges on Friday. The driver never reported the incident to any police station until today (Thursday), when he was nabbed by the DCI sleuths.

“The car’s registration number plate on the windows’ debris was sent to the National Transport and Safety Authority, whose officers, in collaboration with the DCI detectives, found the owner," Muthoni said.

"The man who was positively identified to be the one who was driving the car when it caused the accident was arrested, and the motor vehicle was impounded at Kyumbi police station."

She said an inspection had been done on the motor vehicle even as the suspect locked in lawful custody confessed to knocking down ' something’ on the night when the incident occurred.

Muthoni said the body was discovered shortly after it was knocked down.

“The suspect has never reported the incident to any police station since he got involved in the accident. He has, however, confessed that he was aware he had hit something, but didn’t know what it was. The Treasury employee was knocked down and died on the spot the same day his body was collected from the road,” Muthoni said.

Machakos Level 5 hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Daniel Katua, earlier confirmed that the body was taken to the facility’s mortuary by officers from Kyumbi police station and booked it on August 31, 2024, at 9.20 pm.

Katua said the officers positively identified the body as per the details he got from the mortuary attendants.

"As we speak, the family has gotten permission from Kyumbi police station to transfer the body to a place of their choice, allegedly a private mortuary," Katua told reporters at his office in Machakos Level 5 hospital on Wednesday.

Katua,however, declined to divulge details on the body, citing privacy reasons.

He told the reporters to reach out to the family for more details.

He said the deceased's relatives had earlier gone to pick up the body from the mortuary for transfer but were told to go get permission to do so from Kyumbi police station.

"A postmortem examination was scheduled to be conducted on the body at this facility today. The family, however, instead placed a request for them to have it transferred. When they came here, we told them to come with the police," Katua said.