DPP should use pastor’s crash case to warn others

Mercy Njeri died a most painful death.

In her last moments, she let out an agonising cry for help.

As the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and the weight of death pressed heavily on her chest, in the chaos and the melee of Good Samaritans trying to pull her out of the wrecked car, Njeri could feel life slowly leaving her body.

In that final defining moment, as she lay on that icy grass at Kinungi — the scene of the car accident — Njeri attempted to talk.

Perhaps she did so to encourage her spirit to stay alive for the sake of her young children. Her life must have flashed before her eyes.

JAIL

The joyful moments; the birth of her children, birthdays and anniversaries, and as she floated in those sweet memories, for a moment, she must have forgotten her pain.

And then, she breathed her last. Njeri was 38 years old when she died.

Her life ended in the crash involving Pastor James Maina Ng’ang’a’s car. It is possible that the crash could have been prevented.

The premature death of Njeri was the doing and the result of the sheer arrogance and recklessness of an avuncular man.

That man who belongs in jail for robbing a young family their mother, wife, sister and daughter.

ACQUITTED
Njeri’s blood, spilled at Kinungi, is still crying out of justice.

Two weeks ago, a chief magistrate acquitted Pastor Ng’ang’a and his three co-accused, citing discrepancies from the four witnesses.

That Pastor Ng’ang’a’s car caused the crash is not what angers me most.

It is what the purported man of God did after that makes me boil with rage, knowing that such a man walks free among us.

He had not only driven dangerously, disregarding the traffic circumstances and in the process causing the death of an innocent road user.

According to the courts, the pastor did not report the matter to the police within 24 hours of the accident.

DECEIT

He also lied to the police that he was not the one driving the car.

In fact, multiple witnesses say that they saw the pastor emerge from the driver’s seat after the accident.

The courts also say that the pastor was driving a car that did not have an insurance policy catering for third-party risk.

On top of that, the pastor and three others were accused of misleading a police officer to “defeat the course of justice”.

What angers me most is the casualness and unremorseful attitude with which Pastor Ng’ang’a treated the death of Njeri.

ARROGANCE

I have been reading news reports from 2015 — when the accident occurred — and the arrogance and lack of sensitivity to the family is shocking.

In a church service following the accident, this is what the pastor said to his congregation: “Ng’ang’a has been put there all those days. Vehicles kill lots of people out there… but it is only Ng’ang’a they are seeing.” 

Pastor Ng’ang’a belongs in jail. He does not deserve another day of freedom.

Because of that crash he was involved in, there are children who will go to bed another night without the love and care of their mother.

That alone should warrant that the man responsible for this get a lifetime in jail.

CORRUPT
It is time to declare war against the arrogant and rogue pastors who, because of their money, power and connections, are getting away with many crimes.

Some are nothing more than conmen and collared thugs; others are men of questionable character, who would do anything – including manipulating the criminal justice system — to cover up for their crimes.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has promised to look into the case involving Pastor Ng’ang’a car and appeal his acquittal.

The DPP’s office should be encouraged to handle the matter of this man with meticulousness to teach him a lesson and to use his case as a cautionary tale.

Let him take Pastor Ng’ang’a off the roads and make him regret his actions for the rest of his life.