A man on Tuesday doused himself with petrol and lit himself on fire outside the public entrance to the Supreme Court building in Nairobi.
The middle-aged man, identified as James Kipira, walked to the gate facing the City Hall roundabout Tuesday morning.
He allegedly addressed the guards manning it before doing the unthinkable. Those who witnessed the bizarre incident claimed that he had with him a bottle containing some substance, which turned out to be petrol.
He then doused himself with the substance on the neck and got a lighter from his pocket.
Kipira is said to have tried to set his neck on fire, but it backfired.
When the first trial did not work, he then scrunched and lit the fire from his buttocks.
At this time, the security had realized that he intended to harm himself. One of them rushed for a fire extinguisher.
At this point, he had fallen a few meters away as he tried to save himself. He removed his jacket and threw it away.
The guard extinguished the fire, and an ambulance from the Nairobi County rushed him to the hospital.
“He was here in the morning. He tried to burn himself but a guard came to his rescue,” said a witness.
Judiciary spokesperson Paul Ndemo said that although he was saved in time, he sustained burns.
“Today at about 9:30am a man, whose identity has not been conclusively established, while walking along City Hall Way, stopped outside the Supreme Court building. He was carrying some documents and a bottle with a liquid. While standing on the street pavement, he placed the documents on the ground,doused himself in the liquid believed to be petrol and pulled out a lighter setting himself on fire,”said Ndemo.
Kipira is alleged to have lit himself in protest of a court case involving him and a Mombasa-based car dealer.
He contended that the wheels of justice had taken too long to grind.
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According to his documents, the case involved a dispute over whether he ought to pay Sh1.3 million to a dealer after he allegedly had an accident with a vehicle he intended to buy on hire purchase.
Kipira was to use the vehicle as a taxi. Unfortunately, he had an accident on his way to Nairobi, and the vehicle was not insured.
The battle between the seller and the buyer then started. Kipira is said to have paid Sh300,000 as a deposit, but the seller insisted on payment of the full amount before the vehicle was repaired and handed to him.
This was two years ago.
He is said to have expressed concern that he would not get justice in the case.
Ndemo, who is also judiciary’s deputy chief registrar said the third arm of government would probe to establish if his drastic action could be linked to a court matter.
He said that the police were also keen to question him when he is healed.
