The High Court has allowed the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to table confession by 5th accused(Peter Ngugi) in the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani as evidence in trial of four APs; Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku, Leonard Maina and civilian Peter Ngugi charged with his death.
High Court allows .@ODPP_KE to table confession by 5th accused in murder of lawyer Willie Kimani as evidence in trial of 4 APs Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku, Leonard Maina & civilian Peter Ngugi charged with his death#Murder_ODPP pic.twitter.com/t7pTroPKHo
— ODPP_KE (@ODPP_KE) May 16, 2019
Justice Jessie Lessit ruled that the 22 pg confession is admissible in court & can be used as evidence.
In the confession, Ngugi gives chilling details of how, where, what time and who took which part in the cold-blooded murder of Kimani, his client and driver(Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri) on June 23, 2016.
The confession by the police informer, who is also an accused person in the case, gives graphic specific details of exactly what happened from when the victims were kidnapped as they came out of a Mavoko law court to the time they died.
So far the ODPP has presented 38 witnesses in case with six witnesses yet to testify. The hearing continues on July 8, 2019.
They were brutally tortured – hit on the head with blunt objects, their testicles crushed and heads tied with plastic bags leading to suffocation.
Their bodies were retrieved stashed in gunny bags at Oldonyo Sabuk River a week later.
Ngugi, who told court that he had worked as a police informer for many years before he was arrested and charged with murder, has implicated police officers among them his co-accused Fredrick Leliman.
The defence had strongly opposed the use of the statement by Ngugi, claiming that he was illiterate and did not understand what he recorded. However this argument was rejected by the court yesterday.
Ngugi had asked the court to strike out the confession, arguing that he was coerced and tortured to write it.
At same time, his co-accused Leliman, Stephen Cheburet, Sylvia Wanjiku and Leonard Mwangi suffered another setback after their bid to be released on bond failed.
Judge Lessit dismissed their application for bail, ruling that the circumstances under which they were denied bail two years ago are still the same.