More than 2,000 days after human rights lawyer Willie Kimani was killed, the search for justice on Friday wound down to the mastermind being sentenced to death.
Kimani was abducted as he left the Mavoko law courts in June 2016 alongside his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri. They were all killed and their bodies dumped into River Ol Donyo Sabuk.
Police officers Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and their informer Peter Ngugi were found guilty of the murder of the three victims.
On Friday, Justice Jessie Lessit sentenced Leliman to death and handed Cheburet and Wanjiku 30 and 24 years in jail respectively.
Their informer Ngugi was sentenced to 20 years in prison which is the lowest sentence among all the four of them.
Speaking after the judgement was read out at the Milimani law courts in Nairobi, the victim’s family said they felt justice had been served.
Willie's wife Hannah Kimani said they had lost hope and thought it would not happen, but as a family, they really thank God because he is a God of justice.
“I believed that we were going to get justice and I had no doubt that they had committed the crime,” she said.
She also spoke about the children saying they are doing well. The first born is in Grade 5 and the last born who was nine-months-old when Willie died, is now in Grade 2.
Joseph Muiruri’s sister Stella also thanked the court for the sentence and finally getting closure. She said after close to seven years, they have found justice although it was not easy.
“We feel relieved they were all like my brothers so we feel relaxed everything has gone well we thank God,” she said.
International Justice Mission Country Director Benson Shamalla who worked with Willie also said as his colleagues, they are happy with Leliman sentence but not the other three.
“Of course we would have loved to have a higher sentence for the other three convicts,” Shamalla said.
Shamalla said collectively since 2016, they have made 185 court appearances in those close to seven years and so they were very happy that justice has been served.
“This sends a strong message to the police officers who have been given mandate to protect Kenyans but they violate the law, today justice has been served in this case,” she said.
In sentencing Leliman to death, Justice Lessit said he was a police officer and acted contrary to the law that requires him to safeguard life.
Judge Lesiit said even though the Supreme Court had ruled that the mandatory nature of death sentence was declared unconstitutional, that does not disturb the validity of the death sentence.
She said the evidence produced in court showed that Leliman was the key mastermind of the murder of the three.
The judge said the offence was committed by a group and the three victims were kept in the cell for hours without food or water.
Judge Lesiit said the deceased went through a lot of fear and torture as they heard the screams and shouting of their colleagues who were being killed while they were in the boot of a car awaiting their turn.
The court also considered that the murder included excessive use of violence.
Judge Lessit said Willie and Muiruri were collateral damage as they were not the target of the crime that was committed, saying they didn’t deserve to die but that does not mean Mwenda deserved to die.
“His (leliman) was a personal vendetta against Mwenda for reporting him to IPOA,” the court ruled.
On Cheburet, judge Lessit said he did not have vendetta against Mwenda but he played a critical role in the abduction and keeping of the victims at his police station where he was the senior officer in charge of duty.
“Wanjiku’s role was to keep the deceased persons at the police post where she was the entry officer all the way until the time they were removed from the post to be murdered,” the judge said.
The court also considered Wanjiku mitigation but said she had considered that she was the only woman in the group, but she should have been candid at any point in the case by coming clean to avert the murder.
Judge Lessit said even though not requested, she considered that she is the only woman in the group and her lawyer mitigating that by being a police officer with firm stringent orders and being junior, there is need for discipline and order.
"This discipline and order cannot include aiding, abetting and enabling crime and eventually concealing and denying any knowledge or involvement in it," the judge ruled.
“Had she been candid at any stage of the investigations and trial; it could have been a factor that could serve as a positive circumstance in mitigation,” judge Lessit said.
Ngugi got the least sentence of 20 years because he made a confession to the police which helped shape the investigations.
Defense lawyer Cliff Ombeta has said they will appeal the whole judgement and sentence of the convicts issued by judge Lessit.
He said the judgment was disappointing and it was based on evidence that was non-existent.
Ombeta further said he believed the court had imported evidence so that it could be able to carry out a conviction against the his clients Leliman and Cheburet.
“We believe that the court must have wanted to find somebody guilty and therefore the reason why the evidence was imported,” he said.
