Willy Kimani murder: Video of killing field to play in court

The trial of four police officers and an informer accused of killing human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and a taxi driver continues Tuesday morning with a video, showing the spot where they were killed, expected to be played in court.

The 41-minute video will also show where the bodies were retrieved from in Athi River in Ol-Donyo Sabuk area, Machakos County.

The recording was made as Mr Peter Ngugi, the former police informer who made the confession about the chilling murders. He took the police to the killing field on Mombasa Road near Mlolongo and to Athi River.

Details of the three-hour ordeal Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri underwent will also be narrated.

EXECUTION

The three were handcuffed from the back and a plastic bag put on their faces before they were strangled to death using a rope one after the other.

Mwenda was the first to be executed because he was the prime target.

Senior sergeant Fredrick ole Leliman allegedly wanted him eliminated because he had filed a complaint against him before the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

Mr Ngugi made the confession about the chilling murders three years ago.

TRYING TO SAVE THEIR LIVES

The court heard on Monday how they were kidnapped the trio soon after leaving Mavoko Law Courts after attending a hearing on June 23, 2016.

They were held at Mlolongo Administration Police post, for about seven hours.

Kimani tried in vain to reach out to anyone who could save their lives. He threw a note, written on a piece of tissue paper, asking anyone to “call this number”. The number belonged to his wife.

A boda boda rider picked it, read the note and tried calling Kimani's wife but could not reach her.

Meanwhile, Kimani’s colleagues became worried when he failed to return to the office as required, for debriefing.

His was also unreachable through his mobile phone, which along the Mwenda's and Muiruri's had been switched off by Mr Ngugi and thrown away.

As family and colleagues were searching for them, including visiting the Mlolongo Police station, the killers sneaked them out of Syokimau AP post at around 7pm and took them to a field and executed them in cold blood.

A post-mortem report presented in court showed that the three victims had fractured skulls and injuries on the chest, neck and face. Kimani’s testicles had also been crushed.

Mr Leliman, Mr Stephen Cheburet, Ms Sylvia Wanjiku and Mr Leonard Maina Mwangi, all police officers, and Mr Ngugi, have denied murdering the three.