Mr John Ngigi, 37, who died on January 30 after a brutal attack by thugs on New Year’s Day.
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'My brother lost his life to thugs while defending his friend'
What you need to know:
- Ngugi was planning to get married and start a family but a savage attack ended his life as well as his dreams.
Had John Ngigi, 37, lived to see this month, he would have been happy to start a family as he had promised his kin on New Year’s Day before leaving Nairobi for his Maganjo rural home in Saba Saba Sub-county, Murang'a County.
On the phone, he was bubbly and excited as he talked about the wedding; little did he know that death was stalking him.
Instead, his body is currently lying at Chiromo Funeral Home in Nairobi after he was killed while trying to save another life.
Mr Ngigi had failed to travel from Nairobi for Christmas last year as he didn’t have bus fare. He, instead, travelled on New Year’s Day to Maganjo. He was working as a casual labourer in Nairobi.
On the fateful day, Mr Ngigi was accompanied by his nephew Victor Kogi, whom he had told to wait for him in Sabasaba town as he feared he would arrive late at night. Mr Ngigi arrived in Sabasaba town around 11pm.
Together with Mr Kogi , they started walking home but on the way met a group of thugs who were robbing their family friend, identified as Mr Derrick Mwaniki, on Itongu Road in Sabasaba town.
While trying to intervene and save their family friend, Mr Ngigi was badly beaten by the thugs using crude weapons. He was rushed to Maragua Level Four Hospital in critical condition.
Doctors later referred Mr Ngigi to Murang'a Level Four Hospital after his condition worsened, saying, they lacked the facilities to deal with such injuries.
Medics at Murang'a Level Four Hospital, after assessing the situation, in turn referred the family to the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi where, on arrival, they were informed that the facility was full and it was not possible to get a bed for their patient.
“The doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital advised us that, considering how bad my brother's condition was, it was advisable that we look for another hospital nearby, preferably in Nairobi, to save his life because Kenyatta National Hospital was full and my brother was still bleeding and in a lot of pain,'' Ms Mary Kogi, Mr Ngigi's sister, told Nation yesterday.
“On the doctors’ advise, we took my brother to Mediheal Hospital in Nairobi's Parklands neighbourhood, where my brother was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit,'' Mrs Kogi recalled.
On January 30, Mr Ngigi died at Mediheal Hospital after racking up a medical bill of Sh1.7 million.
“Since Mediheal Hospital does not have a mortuary, we pleaded with them not to take the body to Umash Funeral Home as we could not afford to pay the hospital bill. We instead agreed that the body should be kept at the Chiromo Funeral Home,'' Ms Kogi adds.
Ms Kogi laments that, apart from the huge medical bill, the burial permit has been withheld by the hospital.
“We have held two harambees to offset the medical bill, both of which have raised a total of Sh600,000, leaving us with a balance of Sh1.1 million. This amount is increasing by the day because of the mortuary fee, and we are appealing for help because we have no collateral to give except our small ancestral land where we live,'' Ms Kogi says.
Since the brutal attack and subsequent death of Mr Ngigi, officers at Sabasaba Police Station are yet to arrest a single suspect but insist that the matter is still under investigation.
A post-mortem report obtained by Nation from Mediheal Hospital says Mr Ngigi died of multiple haemorrhagic contusions (bruising of the brain due to severe head injury), cerebral oedema (swelling of the brain), acute kidney injury and septic shock.
“This is to inform that the above patient John Ngigi Kogi was admitted to our facility on 3/1/2023 with diagnosis of multiple haemorrhagic contusion, SDH after history of assault.”
“The patient's condition gradually deteriorated, developed sepsis, acute kidney injury and was found to have gone into cardiac arrest on 30/01/2023 at 10.”
“Immediate resuscitation was initiated as per ACLS [advanced cardiovascular life support] protocol without success and patient was pronounced dead at 11am,'' reads the post-mortem report that was issued to Mr Ngigi’s family by Mediheal Hospital Parklands and signed by Dr Khalif Abdi Fatah Mohammed.
