Three police officers and an informant have been found guilty of the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda & driver Joseph Muiruri.
Willie, his client and taxi driver disappeared after they were last seen at a police station in Syokimau in 2016. That morning, Kimani and Mwenda had attended a court session in Mavoko for a case Mwenda had filed against a police officer. Two weeks later, the bodies of the three men were found nearly 100km away in a river in Ol Donyo Sabuk.
“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused were principal offenders in the crime”- said Justice Jessie Lesiit on Willie Kimani Murder Trial held today.
The third accused, Sylvia Wanjiru, officer manning the Occurrence Book on the day Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri were detained and later killed, was a principal offender guilty of aiding and abetting murder, ruled Justice Jessie Lessit.
The murder case date back to April 2015, when Josephat Mwenda was stopped by a police officer Fredrick Leliman, who accidentally shot him in the hand. Three days later, he was charged with three counts: drug possession, gambling and resisting arrest. He filed a complaint against the officer at the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and Lawyer Willie Kimani began investigating the case on behalf of International Justice Mission (IJM), an international NGO that helps the vulnerable get justice.
In 2016, the three were abducted after leaving court following a hearing on the traffic violation charges, and held in a police container at the station without being booked. Kimani managed to scribble a note on a piece of tissue, indicating that his life is in danger. Judge Jessi Lessit in her ruling today ruled that the note was legitimate. While delivering her ruling on Friday, Justice Lessit said that the note that Willie gave to the construction workers who were passing by the police post where they were being held confirms that the confession was true.
“This is because police informant Ngugi had confessed that the victims were taken to the Syokimau police post,” she said.
The disappearance of Willie Kimani, his client and their taxi driver triggered a public uproar, with the members of the Law Society of Kenya going on strike. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) also filed a habeas corpus application requiring persons in police custody to be produced in court. The three bodies were later found and positively identified.
During the trial before Justice Jessie Lesiit, the investigators relied heavily on technology to place the five accused persons- four police officers and an informer- at the scene of the crime or played a role in the murder. The prosecution tabled CCTV footage and car tracking devices, showing how Kimani was picked by the taxi driver on that day somewhere in Westlands and headed all the way to Mavoko law courts, where he was scheduled to represent Mwenda in a case.
