- Lawrence Simon Warunge has pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder before Kiambu high court after he was cleared fit to take plea.
- Warunge had earlier on confessed to the detectives that he was the one that had committed the murders through inspiration from a British TV show ‘Killing Eve’.
Lawrence Simon Warunge has pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder before the High Court in Kiambu after he was declared fit to take the plea.
Warunge who is at a remand in Nairobi, virtually appeared before Justice Mary Kasango on Thursday and denied that he murdered his father Nicholas Njoroge Warunge, mother Annie Wanjiku, his brother Christian Njenga, nephew Maxwell Njenga and a construction worker James Kinyanjui at their home in Karura, Kiambu county in January this year.
The IT student at a local university had not taken plea since he was arraigned in January due to a psychiatric report earlier that had indicated that he was not of sound mind. But another psychiatric report from Mathari Mental Hospital released on Tuesday concluded that Warunge is fit to stand trial.
On Wednesday, a miscellaneous application which had been sort by investigating officer to detain Warunge for further medical check-up in chief magistrate Patricia Gichohi's court was closed to pave way for him to take plea in the High Court.
Warunge had earlier on confessed to detectives that he had committed the murders through inspiration from a British TV show ‘Killing Eve’.
He told police he went online to search how he can execute his mission the same way the main character in the movie psychopathic assassin Villanelle does without a trace.
According to the police report, he first killed James Kinyanjui, a help who lived just a few metres away from the main house before descending on his mother, Anne Wanjiku who was in the kitchen and his brother, who had responded to her distress call.
The student then attacked his father, Nicholas Warunge, who had fled from the suspect by jumping from the balcony then finished with his cousin, who was hiding under the bed.
Warunge fled the scene of crime and was later arrested in Wangige by DCI officers together with his girlfriend. That was three days after the murders.
After his arrest, he confessed and led police to a residence in Mai Mahiu area where they recovered the killer weapon—a kitchen knife, clothes, shoes, and a piece of paper. He had thrown the exhibits in a pit latrine.
He also took police to an open field in the same area where he said he burnt some of the evidence.
The accused had claimed in his confession that he chose to eliminate the four members of his nuclear family because they were talking ill of him behind his back.
He said he had initially planned to kill everyone including his two surviving sisters who were in school at the time of the murder. He said his plans were foiled when the two returned to school on January 5, the day he allegedly committed the murder.
His girlfriend Sarah Muthoni, who was also a suspect, was released in January under Section 87 (a), and turned into a state witness.
The defense team requested that the matter be mentioned on May 11, 2021 for a pretrial to ascertain whether they have been furnished with all witness statements and the prosecution did not object.
-Edited by SKanyara