• Suspect confesses how he assisted Mugure, an air force major, to bury his victims in a shallow grave.
• Mugure told Pamba that though the lady was beautiful and he wanted to marry her as a second wife, she was not faithful and only wanted to spend more of his money on her and her children.
Image: EUTYCAS MUCHIRI
Collins Pamba did not know he would be moving bodies of a mother and her two children when he met EX- KDF major Peter Mugure next to Kirimara Hotel in Nanyuki.
Mugure told Pamba he had a job for him at Laikipia Airbase and instructed him to come to his home later that night.
Pamba went to Mugure’s house at around 10 pm and found the soldier at the parking bay beside his car. They proceeded to his house.
He opened one of the rooms, switched on the lights and Pamba in.
“I stood near the bed and he proceeded towards the bedroom and also switched on the lights but appeared it had been destroyed,” Pamba said.
Mugure switched on his phone lighting and Pamba was shocked at what he saw.
A body was lying facing down. It had plaited hair, had a trouser on and looked like a girl.
She was in a white T-shirt and a black trouser and was lying on the floor of a bathroom.
In the bathtub in the bathroom, also in a transparent gunny bag and tied with a nylon rope, was another body.
“I could see it was lying facing downwards and had a shaven head and no trouser, was in a T-shirt and appeared like a baby boy,” he said.
“I got shocked and Mugure noted that I was. He told me not to be shocked. He told me that this was the job he had been calling me to perform.”
Pamba said Mugure told him not to tell anyone what he had seen or he would kill him.
He also assured him that he would be recruited in the military during the national recruitment which was to be held soon.
Mugure told him to assist him carry the bodies to his vehicle.
They first carried the boy’s body, that of the girl and their mother in that order putting them in the boot of the car.
The body of the mother was in Mugure’s room and she was in a white trouser and a red shirt.
“The woman’s body was not in a gunny bag and he ordered me to help him put it in one then we carried it to the parking bay,” he said.
After stuffing the three in the boot, Mugure covered them with a boot mat before closing it.
Mugure sat behind the wheel as Pamba occupied the co-driver’s seat.
They drove towards Thingithu Estate in a dumpsite, packed the vehicle and put off the lights.
The soldier took him to a place where a shallow grave had been dug and informed him that that is where he wanted them to dump the bodies.
They carried the mother, boy and the girl in that order putting them in the grave before Mwaura went for a spade in the car and started burying them.
“When he was tired, I also assisted him. He finally picked the spade and did the final touches on the grave,” he said.
He returned the spade in the car and they drove away as he again warned him to remain mum on the incident.
The major assured him of the military job and told him to take the academic certificates to him on October 28 last year.
He then instructed him to go wash the house and dropped him near Nanyuki Maternity Nursing Home the following morning, which was after 1am.
Pamba asked the soldier why he had killed the trio.
Mugure said that Syombua was beautiful and he wanted to marry her as a second wife but she was unfaithful and only wanted his money for herself and her children.
“He also told me that the lady had tried to interfere with his first wife while she (the first wife) had no problem with her,” Pamba said.
Pamba spent the remaining time of the night in his house.
These details emerged at the bail hearing for Mugure in the case in which he is charged jointly with Pamba for killing his wife Joyce Syombua and his two children.
They are both charged with the murders of Joyce Syombua Maua, 34, Shanice Mugure, 10, and Peter Junior, 5, October 26 last year at Laikipia Airbase.
Mugure told the court that he has a wife, Jane Kamau, two children and aged parents all who depended on him.
The court also heard that Mwaura had sent some money on October 23 and 24 to facilitate the visit by Syombua and her children to his place where they spent the night.
Pamba's confession was read by High Court Judge Jairus Ngaah on Friday.
Judge Ngaah denied Mugure bail. The hearing is set for 23 of March.
(edited by O. Owino)