Boy's life-changing accident ¶
On February 2, eight-year-old David Muthee was playing with his friends in Murang'a County when a donkey bit him, fracturing his leg. The accident has left the boy's mother, Jacinta Nyaga, in a desperate bid to save her son's leg from amputation.
Ms Nyaga said her son was playing near a donkey that had been tethered to an electricity post by its owner, Beatrice Mwangi. The donkey bit David on his right leg, inflicting a fracture that has now turned into a crisis after the leg became paralysed.
Ms Nyaga said she had agreed with Ms Mwangi that if the latter paid the hospital bills for the schoolboy, she would not report the matter to the police. However, Ms Mwangi abandoned the family after David was admitted to Thika Level Five Hospital, leaving Ms Nyaga to raise Sh22,000 for the surgery.
"But things did not work out for my son... instead of the leg healing, it started to rot. The meat around the metallic plate started falling off... and now the leg is dying and I fear that soon, doctors will recommend that it be amputated," Ms Nyaga said.
Ms Nyaga reported the matter to the Ngati Police Station in Ithanga/Kakuzi sub-county on May 15, and the police have since issued a P3 form for medical examination reports to be indicated.
Investigations underway ¶
The police are investigating the matter, and the owner of the donkey, Ms Mwangi, has denied abandoning the family, saying she paid admission fees plus Sh350 in daily expenditure for the boy.
Ms Mwangi acknowledged that the donkey had bitten her before attacking David, but attributed the attack to typical aggression from the animal.
However, the police are suspecting that the donkey may have been rabid, and are planning to exhume the animal for a forensic veterinary autopsy to determine the cause of the attack.
Private doctor's offer ¶
A private doctor has offered to redo the surgery on David's leg for Sh300,000, but Ms Nyaga is struggling to raise the funds.
"It is now about my God, my son and well-wishers. As a casual labourer and a single mother of three, my interest is not in a court case but in seeing my son walk again and resume school,” Ms Nyaga said.
Ms Nyaga has an NHIF card, but her son is yet to secure a birth certificate, which is required for him to be incorporated as a beneficiary.
