Willy Kimani’s murder case closed, judgement to be issued within 60 days
The protracted trial of four cops and a civilian accused of the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani, client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri has finally come to a close today after five years and eight months.
High Court Judge Justice Jessie Lessit is set to give a judgement on notice within 60 days.
She said this was the longest case she has ever handled, comprising a total of 6,114 pages, 117 exhibits, 46 prosecution witnesses testimonies, 34 defence witnesses testimonies.
The judge will consider the DNA samples tabled in court, a confession statement by the fifth accused person, CCTV footage, and mobile companies cell site analysis data, to make her decision.
State prosecutor Nicholas Mutuku told the judge that they have proved their case beyond reasonable doubt backed by 47 witnesses who recounted and recreated the murder scene and 117 exhibits to show how the accused executed the cold-blooded murder.
“We have been able to prove the deaths were caused by the accused persons through a well-planned scheme where the architect of the murder Fredrick Leliman recruited the other accused and together killed the three deceased persons,” he said.
However, the police informer has asked the judge to declare the case a mistrial on the grounds that she had no jurisdiction to hear the case.
Peter Ngungi, the fifth accused, who confessed to the killings and claimed he was used by the killers has said the case should be retried afresh since the judge was promoted to the Court of Appeal and therefore cannot handle High Court matters.
The prosecution disagreed with Ngungi stating that the decision to have Justice Lesiit continue with the case hearing was given to the Chief Justice and that similar directives have been given to other judges before.
The submissions were supported by Dr Fred Ojiambo on behalf of the Law Society of Kenya who urged the court to consider the painful circumstances the deceased went through before their death.
But the defence lawyers led by Cliff Ombeta argued that the case had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt to warrant convicting the accused.
“The three deaths were heinous and painful but what we are saying is that the case has not been proven to the required standard. There is nothing to prove the connection between the accused persons or their role in the murder,” said Ombeta.
The defence lawyers also pointed to contradictions in the witnesses’ statements, arguing that they could not correctly identify the vehicles used in the murder.
According to Ombeta, Leliman did not plan the murder of the three deceased persons and that the confession by Ngugi should be disregarded by the court for being a falsehood, and that it is unsafe to convict the accused due to the gaps left in the prosecution’s case.
