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Helicopter bishop under fresh probe for killing pedestrian in road crash

By GRACE GITAU October 23rd, 2015 2 min read

An inquest into the death of a victim of an accident involving Bishop Thomas Wahome  of Helicopter Ministries started on Thursday in an Othaya court.

Mr Godfrey Mwaniki died at Kihuri village in Othaya on June 24 in an acccident involving a Range Rover being driven by the bishop.

Three witnesses appeared before Resident Magistrate Raymond Kibet and all three denied that Mr Mwaniki was drunk when the accident took place.

Police had closed the case and only reopened it after Daily Nation highlighted the story.

Mr Mwaniki died on the spot.

BISHOP ADMITTED

The family reportedly dropped the case after reaching a settlement with the bishop, who admitted his car hit the victim.

Mr Titus Mwaniki, however, denied claims that his brother was drunk at the time of the accident.

He told the court the brother had only taken a bottle of beer and was on his second when he walked out of the bar to attend to an issue.

“He asked me to watch his drink as he stepped out to pick something across the road,” he said.

He said he was informed minutes later by the bar attendant of an accident involving his brother.

“A bottle and a half of Pilsner has never made him drunk. He was walking fine,” he said.

Another witness said he had spotted Mwaniki on the right side of the road talking to a boda boda rider across the road.

MID-AIR

However, he was not certain at what point Mwaniki was hit but reported seeing the victim in the air after a bang.

Bishop Wahome had denied that he was speeding.

“The car must have been speeding to throw a body into the air,” said a police officer, who requested anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the media.

The final hearing was set for October 29.