A quantity surveyor has been found guilty of killing a university student through reckless driving along the Thika Super Highway.
Senior resident Magistrate Electa Riany found Job Wangila Wandera guilty of killing 21year old Brian Kiambati and sentenced him to 3 years imprisonment if he fails to pay sh. 350,000 fine.
The court held that Wangila had been driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of accident was charged with causing by reckless driving.
Wangila is said to have caused the death of a third year engineering student at the University of Nairobi in 2016 after making a wrong U-turn to escape an alcoblow operation.
“The accused was driving on the wrong side along Thika Road, according to inspection report it was a head-on collision and postmortem report showed the deceased died of head and chest injuries. In making the wrong u-turn it’s evident that the accused was driving carelessly,” said Riany.
The court relied on testimonies by citizen TV crew Evelyn Wambui (reporter) and Mathenge Goko (cameraman) who were on an assignment to cover a crack down on drunk driving that fateful night.
Both confirmed to the court Wangila’s vehicle was the one that made a wrong U-turn and was involved in an accident moments later.
Hon. Riany said the two witnesses did not know either of the parties in court and therefore had no reason to give false testimonies against the accused.
When asked by the court to give his point of view to counter mitigation by the Wangila’s advocate, Brian’s father told the court that no amount of punishment can bring back his son.
In a media interview after the judgment, Mr. Kiambati said that he only wanted justice for his son which had been served. However, the mother of the deceased said the pain the family has gone through is not worth the conviction.