The Court of Appeal has upheld a KSh16 million compensation award to Dancun Animantu, rejecting Kenya Power and Lighting Company’s (KPLC) attempt to overturn the liability finding.
The appellate judges said KPLC was 100 per cent responsible for the accident and dismissed the utility’s bid to reduce the award, noting there was no justification to interfere with the High Court decision.
“No amount of money could ever restore the respondent to his previous condition. He can never purchase another arm to replace the one he lost,” the judges said.
The injury occurred on October 30, 2015 when the 16-year-old Animantu tripped onto a live high-voltage wire lying on the ground in the Kilemi/Kautine area of Antubetwe Location, Igembe North, Meru County, causing electrocution, loss of consciousness and a four-month hospital stay at Maua Methodist Hospital.
Doctors amputated his right forearm below the elbow and treated third- and fourth-degree burns to his armpit, shin, ankle and foot, leaving him with permanent disability, pain in his left leg and the inability to continue schooling as a right-handed pupil.
The court found Animantu’s detailed account corroborated by medical evidence from his doctors and KPLC’s own medical expert Maina Ruga, who confirmed the injuries were consistent with high-voltage electrocution.
Orthopaedic technologist John Muchoki testified that Animantu required an advanced myoelectric prosthesis from German firm Ottobock, estimated at KSh8 million with maintenance of KSh100,000 every five years, whereas cheaper limbs costing KSh1 million to KSh2.5 million would offer limited functionality.
KPLC argued the award was excessive and sought to limit compensation to about KSh2.12 million, but the judges rejected the utility’s challenge to the medical evidence and its claim that the victim was partly at fault.
The judges noted KPLC’s statutory duty under Section 52 of the Energy Act to inspect and maintain its infrastructure and observed that the utility had failed to explain how the wire ended up in the grazing field.
“The respondent was a 16-year-old minor minding his own business, doing routine rural chores. An ordinary young boy herding cattle cannot be expected to anticipate or foresee a deadly, invisible electrical trap lying in the foliage on the ground,” the court said.
The court also rejected KPLC’s assertion that Animantu was playing with the wires, stating “We were not, for instance, told that the respondent was playing around with the wires when he was electrocuted.”
Animantu sued KPLC in October 2018 for pain, suffering, medical expenses and a functional artificial limb; the High Court in March 2021 had awarded KSh15,979,424 plus interest, finding KPLC fully liable.
The appellate ruling confirms the KSh16 million award and affirms KPLC’s 100 per cent liability for the accident.
