Court adopts a confession by an accused in lawyer Kimani's murder case

A confession by a police informer detailing how lawyer Willie Kimani and his two associates were murdered has been admitted as evidence by the court.

Yesterday, the High Court in Nairobi adopted the confession by the fifth accused, Peter Ngugi, in a case where five police officers are charged with the lawyer's murder.

The court rejected Ngugi's plea that he was tortured to confess to the killings of Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and a taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri in 2016.

Their bodies were found in a river in Ol-Donyo Sabuk, Machakos County.

Ngugi, Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and Leonard Maina Mwangi are on trial for murder.

Lady Justice Jessie Lessit yesterday ruled that the law allows the admissibility of a confession in court.

The judge also dismissed an application by Leliman, Cheburet, Wanjiku and Mwangi on review of the bail ruling that nothing had changed between the time the application was made and now.

Evidence Act

Nicholas Mutuku, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, had urged the court to find that the confession made by Ngugi was taken in accordance with the evidence Act.

“The accused never made any complaint of torture or physical injuries to the presiding magistrate, the doctor who examined him for psychiatric report or the documentation officer at Naivasha Maximum Prison,” said Mutuku in his application.

He said that claims that Ngugi was physically assaulted on August 8, 2016 by officers were not based on facts because he never identified those who assaulted him.

“The accused claims that one of the officers pushed him back, stepped on his genitals while another slapped him and ordered him to strip,” said Mutuku.

He told the court that Ngugi never identified the object that he claims the officers used to assault him.

Mutuku argued that the accused failed to provide any kind of medical evidence to support his allegations.

The officer told the court that it was Ngugi’s testimony that the assault was related to a disagreement about the monies advanced to him as a police informer and that it had nothing to do with the confession.

Witness testimonies

Mutuku told the court that some of the witnesses testified that Ngugi never complained of any illness.

“Your ladyship, if the accused had an injury in his private parts that was oozing pus after the assault, he could not have stayed from August 8, 2016 to September 16, 2016 without seeking treatment from a clinic within the prison. Records show that he was never treated at Naivasha," said Mutuku.

He said that the accused was never forced to record the confession and that he appeared calm and composed when he made it.

Through lawyer Cliff Ombeta, the accused had sought review of bail, arguing that all key witness had already testified.

Ombeta argued that the accused are public servants with less chances of absconding.

The case will be heard on July 8, 2019.