Kitengela four: Autopsy reveals how Benjamin Imbai met his death

Benjamin Imbai, one of the four men who disappeared from Kitengela on April 19 only for his body to be discovered in Thika last week, was killed through suffocation and strangulation.

This is according to the results of a post-mortem conducted yesterday at General Kago Funeral Home, which show that Mr Imbai had struggled with his killers without success. The report notes that his body had bruises all over, indicating that there was a confrontation between him and the killers.

The autopsy report further notes that marks on his neck and hands show that the killers first handcuffed him, and later used a rope to pin him down and suffocate him.

“On respiratory system...there is muscle and oesophagus bruising while on the cardiovascular system, there are contusions of the major neck blood vessels due to strangulation,” the post-mortem report reads in part.

It further notes that his digestive system had bruises of the orpharynx (middle part of the throat) and posterior tongue, implying that his killers hit him around the mouth area. 

Mr Imbai, 30, also had haemorrhage on the conjuctivae of both eyes.

The deceased, who is one of four men who disappeared after having lunch in Kitengela on April 19, was booked at General Kago morgue on April 20 at 10.37pm by police officers from Kamwangi Police Station in Gatundu North after a plumber who was working on water pipes at Kieni forest stumbled upon a dead body and reported the matter to police. The other three are Elijah Obuong, Brian Oduor and Jack Anyango. 

Officers from the station who took the body to the morgue told Nation.Africa that Mr Imbai had no shoes or shirt, and only had a pair of trousers on. They also observed deep scars on his hands, as if he had been handcuffed by his killers before he was killed.

“A plumber who was working on water pipes that passes through kieni forest told police that he stumbled on the body of the deceased when he was repairing the water pipes that passes through the forest. We contacted our DCI counterparts from this area and  transferred the body to General Kago Funeral Home,” some of the officers said.

The police sources also noted that Mr Imbai’s body had started to decompose.

So far, of the four, only the bodies of Imbai and Elijah Obuong, 35, have been found and identified.

Obuong's body was reportedly discovered by sand harvesters near Mukungai River along the Murang'a-Iyego-Kangema road on April 20. The body, which had no visible injuries, was taken to the mortuary by police officers.  

A third body found near Obuong's body in Murang'a is yet to be identified.