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A Kiambu court has allowed Lawrence Warunge, the university student who confessed to killing his four family members in the gruesome murder to be detained until today to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Chief Magistrate Patriciah Gichohi granted the prosecution more time to enable a mental assessment conducted to Warunge who did not appear in court yesterday. 

The court ordered Warunge’s girlfriend Sarah Muthoni who had been arraigned in court to be detained at Gigiri Police Station until today to know whether they will face the murder suspect. 

According to the prosecution, Muthoni who is also expected to face murder charges has since undergone mental assessment and has been found fit to stand trial.

The psychiatric test is mandatory for all High Courts handling murder cases in order to ensure a suspect has the capacity to plead to murder charges.

The confessions

If a suspect is found to be insane, under such circumstances will be confined to a mental facility where he or she will undergo treatment until the doctors approve his sanity.

If the suspect is proved to be sane by the doctors, the office of the DPP shall inform the court if they want to proceed with the charges or not.

Warunge if found fit to stand trial will face murder charges for killing both his parents, his brother, cousin and a mason in Karura area of Kiambu.

The 22-year-old is said to have confessed to police he chose to eliminate the four members of his nuclear family single-handedly because they were talking ill of him behind his back.  

According to a police report, Waruinge first killed James Kinyanjui: a handyman who lived a few meters from the main house.

Police say he later attacked his mother Anne Wanjiku who was in the kitchen followed by his 12-year-old brother who had responded to his mother’s distress call.