Family grieves killing of youth, 20, in mystery crash

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Patrick Channing Nyamu, 20, was in the company of three other friends, including his relative, Charles Njuki, when he was last seen alive on the night of August 5. Photo/FILE 

By BILLY MUIRURI bmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com 
Posted  Friday, August 12  2011 at  22:30

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A family is struggling to come to terms with the death of a 20-year-old, whose body was identified on Friday – full a week after apparently been run over by a car in Nairobi.

Patrick Channing Nyamu, 20, was in the company of three other friends, including his relative, Charles Njuki, when he was last seen alive on the night of August 5.

What happened next as the group reportedly walked towards an entertainment spot on Langata Rd after a night of drinking at Nairobi West’s Discount Bazaar is anyone’s guess.

Police insist Nyamu was hit by a car along Lang’ata Road, near the T-Mall junction.

Although Njuki is alive and well, the other two friends could not be traced by Friday evening.

Police in Lang’ata are treating the case as an accident. Langata police boss David Bunei says a report was made at Lang’ata police station by a motorist who said he had hit a pedestrian.

“The report we have is that when the young man was hit, the motorist stopped to pick him but his friends came rushing towards him threatening to beat him. He jumped into his car and sped off,” said Mr Bunei last evening.

Nyamu was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital past midnight by a traffic officer who could only be identified as Mwangi.

Nyamu, the son of Patricia Nyamu who works at a public relations firm in Nairobi, died at 2:15am while being treated.

Records at the referral hospital show he suffered from massive cerebral damage, intracranial haemorrhage, intracranial oedema in addition to chest injuries.

But it was only on Thursday night, six days later, that Patricia would learn about the death of the elder of her two sons.

He left their Gachie home on Friday at 3pm to meet his friends and had some money.

“He had about Sh 3,000 when he left home,” said a grieving Ms Nyamu.

On Saturday, Njuki called Nyamu’s younger brother to ask if he had come home. He had not.

Njuki could not recall what had happened as they approached Lang’ata road. He found himself near the road the next morning.

“He just cannot recall what transpired. He can only remember walking towards the road,” said a relative at the Lee Funeral Home where Nyamu’s body was transferred.

Njuki could not be reached by Saturday Nation as he did not have a mobile phone, although one of his brothers had said he had accompanied some of the relatives to the hospital earlier on Friday.

On learning her son had gone missing, Ms Nyamu posted a search appeal on Facebook.

On Thursday evening, a blogger called to ask if the missing person had certain physical characteristics.

The caller said an accident victim had been brought to KNH but later died.

On Friday morning, the mother and a few relatives went to the Hospital and identified the body.

A close relative also says the young men were robbed of their personal effects.

Could they have been victims of mugging? Where are the other two friends, a week later? Why haven’t they contacted any of the relatives to check if Nyamu reached home?

Apart from Njuki, none of the family members seemed to know the missing boys.

“We are waiting for Safaricom Ltd to furnish us with the call records,” said Nyamu’s mother.

A post mortem carried out last evening at the Lee Funeral Home reveals the death occurred due to multiple head, chest and abdominal injuries “secondary to blunt force trauma in keeping with motor vehicle accident.”

Close relatives say Nyamu dreamt of being a rapper and was already composing some songs.

He had in fact picked and dropped various courses in several colleges including St Paul’s University.

His mother said, “The last time he was at Zetech College doing Information Technology but left to “concentrate on rapping”.

Had he lived for a few more years, maybe Patrick Channing Nyamu would have become a top rapper in the country.

But his life was cut short at midnight last Friday in yet unexplained circumstances.