The murder case of lawyer Willie Kimani and two others that has captured the attention of nation for the past 6 years finally neared a conclusion after Judge Jessie Lessit found three police officers and a police informer guilty.
The police officers namely Fredrick ole Leliman, Stephen Cheburet and Sylvia Wanjiku alongside Peter Ngugi, the informer, are now waiting for their sentencing. The fourth accused in the case Sgt Leornard Mwangi was however acquitted because there was no sufficient evidence to prove his involvement in the murders.
Leliman, the first accused, had however informed Mwangi that he was part of the mission hours before the crime was executed.
Kimani, a human rights lawyer, was brutally murdered alongside his client Josephat Mwenda who was a boda boda rider and a taxi driver Joseph Muiruri on June 23, 2016 and their bodies dumped at Ol Donyo Sabuk river.
The trio met their deaths after the mention of a traffic offense case against Mwenda by a police officer. Other sources however claim the case also involved a corruption complain against a police officer.
On the fateful day, the three were at the Mavoko law courts at 9 am .They then left the court at around 12 pm heading home in Muiruri’s taxi but were however abducted in form of an arrest at Athi River and got locked at Syokimau police station with officers Stephen Cheburet and Sylvia Wanjiku guarding them.
At 6pm Kimani wrote a message on a tissue paper and threw it to a passing boda boda rider after realizing that they were in danger. The victims were then transferred to Soweto Thicket in Mlolongo in a car belonging to a police officer.
According to Ngugi’s confession, the officers however argued for hours on whether to kill them or release them. Mwenda was the first person to be killed at 10 pm. Kimani and the taxi driver deaths came after. Their bodies were then transferred to Ol Donyo Sabuk.
Leliman, Mwangi and Kamenju would then travel at the Soweto thicket before returning to Mlolongo at 1 am where they made merry at Leliman’s bar. He is said to have bought 80 beers and 5kg of goat meat.
The bodies of Kimani, Mwenda and Muiruri were recovered from the river on July 1 the same year and Ngugi became the first person to be arrested.
The trial on the murder cases commenced in November 2016 with the prosecution lining up 44 witnesses.
The prosecution however managed to prove that the accused persons were guilty through phone analysis technology and Ngugi’s confession.
Ngugi’s role in the crime was to track the movement of the three outside the Mavoko court and was later tasked with disposing of the taxi in Limuru.
Through the phone tracking and analysis, investigators were able to demonstrate the movement of the accused persons from one crime scene to the next. Phone tracking also placed Ngugi at all points of interest thus concurring with his confession.
According to Judge Jessie Lessit, the analysis on the mobile phones and communication gadgets belonging to the accused persons placed them at the scene of the crime.
“The prosecution relied on technology, forensic evidence, the confession and phone call data from Safaricom and Airtel. The call sites were captured in the data, handset history, geographical locations and movements,” Judge Lessit noted.
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