Edward Ndegwa: KNH Patient Was Murdered Day Before Being Discharged
- Margaret Muthoni questions the circumstances in which her son, hospitalised at KNH, died last Thursday
- Edward Ndegwa bled to death in his bed in ward 7B after the suspected murderer stabbed him in the neck
- According to Muthoni, Ndegwa was to be discharged on Friday, July 18, but the murder preceded his discharge from the hospital
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The mother of the patient killed inside a ward at Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has broken her silence.
Source: Getty Images
Edward Ndegwa was stabbed in the neck and bled in his bed in the facility's ward 7B on Thursday, July 17.
What Edward Ndegwa's mother said over murder
Speaking two days after the murder, Ndegwa's mother, Margaret Muthoni, revealed that the deceased had stabilised and was to be discharged on Friday.
Ndegwa's reunion with his family after a six-day admission to the hospital was cut short by a suspect who charged toward his room on Thursday afternoon.
Muthoni regretted that where she thought her ailing son would be safe while receiving treatment turned out to be the point where he met his death.
"It is so painful. I thought he was in a safe place, yet he was in a slaughterhouse," Muthoni said.
Muthoni questioned why the hospital allowed the suspect, believed to have mental challenges, to mingle with other patients.
This was even after being implicated in another murder in the same ward in February this year.
What Margaret Muthoni wants from government
She demanded nothing short of justice, suggesting that her son's murder would have been avoided had the hospital taken such measures as isolating the suspect, especially after the February incident.
"Is KNH a mental or medical hospital? Why should a mentally disturbed man be kept and given a side room in a ward with an unconscious parent? When he said he had no home, he should have been taken to a government institute of destitutes. It is very hurtful. I am waiting for fair justice for my son and the rest of the patients at KNH," she said.
The suspect, identified as Kennedy Kalombotole, is currently in custody pending his arraignment.
Kalombotole had lived at KNH ever since his last admission in December last year.
In February, when another patient, Gilbert Kinyua, was killed in the same fashion and ward as Ndegwa, DCI identified him as the person of interest.
However, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) did not take him into custody, asking KNH to accommodate him in the course of the investigations.
Source: Twitter
He stayed there until the latest case of murder.
Why murder suspect was allowed to live in KNH
Before the incidents of murder, Kalombotole had extended his stay at KNH due to being homeless and lacking known relatives.
In response, the hospital's management arranged temporary housing for him, ensuring he could return for medical care whenever needed.
At some point, the hospital got a place for him to stay in before his admission in December last year.
He was discharged, but those who had accommodated him would not readmit him, forcing the hospital to continue hosting him.
Earlier in the year, Kalombotole's identity was publicly shared by KNH in an attempt to locate his family, but no connections were made.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
