Man arrested, 35 donkeys recovered in Mombasa Road accident

A man has been arrested and 35 donkeys recovered after his vehicle was involved in an accident along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway on Friday night.

Athi River South subcounty police commander Philis Muthoni said the man was arrested at the scene of the incident in the Kyumbi area, Machakos County.

Muthoni said the man was driving a truck ferrying the suspected stolen donkeys when he got involved in a head-on collision with a 14-passenger matatu at 10.00 pm on Friday.

"The truck driver tried to flee the scene of the accident, but he was arrested. He has been detained at Kyumbi police station," Muthoni told the Star on the phone on Saturday.

Muthoni said the truck was ferrying the donkeys from Kitui County to Limuru when the incident happened.

She said the man didn't have any permit or legal documents authorising transportation of the donkeys.

Muthoni said despite the matatu getting extensively damaged in the accident, no injuries or deaths have been reported.

The carnage was towed to the Kyumbi police station pending inspection.

Muthoni said investigations into the incident are in top gear.

She said they were liaising with their Kitui county counterparts to find out whether there were people who had reported missing donkeys or stock theft reports at any police station within the Lower Eastern region.

Muthoni said the suspect had equally contravened laws on livestock transportation timeliness.

"There are laws that regulate livestock transportation timeliness. Why was the man transporting the donkeys at night?" Muthoni asked.

"It's against the law to transport livestock at night, whether one has necessary legal documents as matters of livestock movements are concerned. Livestock should be transported during the day."

Cases of donkey theft and illegal slaughtering of the animals have been on the rise in the Lower Eastern region lately.

Several residents from Kitui, Machakos, Makueni, Kajiado, and Embu where the animal is most dominant, have always raised complaints of increased donkey theft, with the majority becoming desperate since the animal is a source of livelihood to many residents.

Lots of donkey carcasses have also been recovered from thickets by multi-agency agency teams in the aforementioned counties.