• The chicken trader was forced to jump out of the boot of a speeding car.
• His vehicle was later recovered at a police station where the attackers had dumped it.
Image: /HANDOUT
Elijah Oluoch, 29, made a daring escape when he was carjacked in July.
The chicken trader was forced to jump out of the boot of a speeding car, where the attackers had bundled him. He fell on the tarmac and lost consciousness. He woke up in hospital.
He is lucky to be alive and with no major injuries.
“It is a miracle that I’m still alive today. I was ready for any eventuality, including death. Injuries or fractures were not in my mind as I planned my escape,” the father of one recounted.
Oluoch was driving from Busia in the company of another man at 1am on July 17, when armed men, standing in the middle of the road, flagged them down in Sidindi, Ugenya, in Siaya county.
He had just delivered chicken to Busia.
The assailants ordered them to the back seats of Oluoch’s Toyota Fielder, bound their mouths with tape and tied their hands.
They took their three phones and removed the SIM cards. They also took all the money they had.
“We need to get Sh200,000 and if you cannot give it to us, this will be the end of you,” he remembered the men telling them.
The cash he had on him was Sh6,400. Luckily or not, because the attackers had removed his phone SIM card, they were unable to access M-Pesa.
They were later transferred to the boot of an old saloon car, this time, with their faces covered.
They left the main roads for rough feeder roads.
Oluoch and his co-victim lost track of time and what was going on. They were driven around until evening.
“The boot was a tight place to share with another person. The good thing is that I managed to free my hand and face and would listen to their conversations,” he recounted.
At some point, his co-victim was taken out of the boot to the back seat. He fought his way and escaped before the door was slammed.
Oluoch was left alone in the boot and with his assailants.
After his co-victim escaped, his abductors increased the speed of the car.
But it is the turn of the conversation among the attackers that alarmed and injected courage into him.
“I heard them say ‘we have to finish this thing quickly’,” he said.
Oluoch concluded that perhaps the attackers were planning to kill him.
“I decided that I had to escape rather than wait to die in a way that no one will know where my body was dumped.”
In the boot, there was a wheel spanner, which he used to gradually press the lock.
“I managed to open the boot and remained inside as the men sped on. I was still calculating the chances and the best moment to jump out,” Oluoch said.
He jump out when the car was back on tarmac. Good Samaritans rescued him and took him to a nearby hospital where he regained consciousness.
His vehicle was later recovered at a police station where the men had dumped it.