The killings occurred on June 23, 2016.
Fredrick Leliman (first accused) was on Friday, February 3, 2023 sentenced to death, Stephen Cheburet, the second accused, (30 years), Sylvia Wanjiku, the third accused (24 years), and Peter Ngugi, the fifth accused (20 years).
The three were bundled into a vehicle and taken to Syokimau Police Post where they were locked up before they were later smuggled out and driven to a location where they were brutally murdered.
Their lifeless bodies were stashed in sacks and transported to a river in Ol Donyo Sabuk where they were dumped only to be recovered a week later on June 30 and July 1, 2016.
Justice Jessie Lesiit ruled at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi that the respective sentences will run concurrently.
The judge said the four killed lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and driver in the “most foul” circumstances.
Lesiit directed the correctional facilities’ management to consider the period the convicts have spent behind bars during trial and deduct from their overall respective sentencing.
“I have carefully considered the entire evidence adduced in this case by both sides and as well as the submission by both counsels. Having done, so I find that the circumstantial evidence established against the first, second, third and fifth accused persons justifies the guilt of the accused beyond any other reasonable hypothesis besides that of guilt,” said Justice Lesiit.
Leliman, Cheburet, Wanjiku, Mwangi and Ngugi had been accused of abducting Kimani and his co-victims on their way home from attending a case at the Mavoko Law Courts that had implicated Administration Police Officer Leliman, the first accused.
The prosecution, which produced 46 witnesses in court, said Leliman had unlawfully arrested and shot Josephat Mwenda, a boda boda operator, in April 2015.
Leliman took Mwenda to the Mavoko Law Courts, where he was charged with being in possession of bhang, resisting arrest and gambling.
Leonard Mwangi, who was the fourth accused, was in June 2022 acquitted over lack of sufficient evidence against him.
On July 22, 2022, while rendering a guilty verdict on the four, Justice Lesiit said that the accused, who were police officers at the Mlolongo Police Station, contemplated for three hours on whether to kill the victims on June 23, 2016, a contemplation that she said indicated malicious motive.
Justice Jessie Lessit, now a judge of the Court of Appeal, found them guilty of killing rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri on June 23, 2016.
Read: LSK asks police bosses to resign over lawyer's killing
The bodies of the three men were found stashed in gunny bags in Ol Donyo Sabuk, Machakos County, on July 1, 2016.
The accused have 14 days to appeal the ruling.
The prosecution produced in court 46 witnesses to testify against the accused persons who in their defence brought forth 36 witnesses to defend them from the charges.
Lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Mwenda and the taxi driver were abducted after leaving Mavoko Law Courts in Machakos County on June 23, 2016. They were leaving a court session in Mavoko where Mwenda had filed a case against Fredrick Leliman.
The three were bundled into a vehicle and taken to Syokimau Police Post where they were locked up before they were later smuggled out and driven to a location where they were brutally murdered.
No comments:
Post a Comment