Judge to deliver verdict on murder of lawyer Kimani, 2 others today
By Nancy.Gitonga, July 22, 2022
High Court judge Jessie Lesiit will today (Friday) deliver the much-awaited verdict on the murder of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani and two allies, bringing to a close the case which started in late 2016.
The verdict comes after concluding hearings in the five-year-and-eight-month trial of the heinous murder of Kimani, client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
The hearings came to a close in February this year after receiving final submissions from defence lawyers and the prosecution, led by Nicholas Mutuku.
Mutuku urged the judge to find the five accused, among them four police officers — Sylvia Wanjohi, Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Leonard Mwangi and Peter Ngugi — guilty.
The court is expected to give its judgment after evaluating the evidence tendered by a total of 46 prosecution witnesses, who produced 6,114 pages of documents, including 117 exhibits and 34 testimonies.
In their final submissions, the prosecution said it had proved the case of murder against all the accused people and asked the judge to find them guilty as charged.
Lessit had last year put all these officers in their defence after establishing that a prima facie case had been established against each of them.
The judge was asked to consider DNA samples tabled in court, a confession statement by the fifth accused, CCTV footage, and mobile companies’ cell site analysis data in making her final decision on the case.
Lawyers of the victims, led by senior counsel Fred Ojiambo, urged the judge to find the accused guilty of executing the lawyer, his client and the taxi driver, and dumping their bodies in the Athi River.
On their part, the defence pleaded with the court to disregard the evidence produced by the prosecution, saying they relied on assumptions.
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta for Leliman and Cheburet told the court that the matter had not been proved beyond all reasonable doubt.
Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were abducted on June 23, 2016, shortly after leaving Mavoko Law Courts in Athi River. They were reportedly killed at 7 pm in a thicket in Mlolongo. Their bodies were then dumped in a river at Ol Donyo Sabuk and recovered one week later.