Metro Trans Sacco Ordered to Pay Ksh 1.3M for Knocking Pedestrian Dead in Mwiki

The High Court has ordered a popular Nairobi public service vehicle (PSV) Sacco, Metro Trans, to pay over Ksh1 million to the family of a deceased man who was knocked down by one of the buses in Mwiki, Kasarani.

In a ruling delivered at the High Court, Milimani Civil Division, on Wednesday, December 18, Justice Hellen Namisi directed that the family of the deceased be paid Ksh1,361,710.

The ruling came after the family of the deceased appealed to the court, protesting an earlier court ruling where a magistrate court issued a ruling awarding a smaller penalty to the Metro Trans Sacco.

In the earlier ruling, a magistrate court had ordered that the family of the deceased be paid half of the amount after it found both the deceased and the Sacco vulnerable for the negligence that resulted in the death.

However, Justice Namisi overturned the ruling, granting the family the full amount as compensation for the injuries suffered from the loss of their loved one. 

”Having come to the foregoing conclusion, this court judges that the trial magistrate erred in apportioning liability in the ratio 50:50. I, therefore, set aside that decision of the trial court on liability and in its place, do substitute and enter judgment finding the Respondents 100% liable for the accident,” Justice Namisi ruled.

Namisi also faulted the earlier ruling for ignoring relevant facts to reach a fair and reasoned determination.

”That the learned Magistrate erred in law and fact in failing to consider the appellant’s submissions and thereby ignoring relevant guiding facts to reach a fair and reasoned determination and thereby proceeding to apportion liability without putting into consideration the evidence on record,” she added.

The deceased Osethios Mutethia Nthiga at the time of his death was a butchery attendant at Mwiki.

”At the time of his death, the Deceased was aged 27 years and employed as a Butcher. He was the sole breadwinner for his young family, earning approximately Ksh700 per day,” court documents read in part.

According to court documents, the payments were broken down with the family getting a total of Ksh50,000 for pain and suffering and Ksh150,000 for loss of expectation of life.

Additionally, Ksh1,000,000 was classified as compensation for the loss of dependency as the deceased was the sole breadwinner at the time of his death, and Ksh161,710 for special damages.

The ruling is set to generate debate within the matatu sector in the city, highly viewed as one of the unruliest and chaotic sectors in the country.