This archive report was first published on 8 October 2019.
Police Kidnapped and Murdered Nairobi Lawyer Willie Kimani ¶
On June 23, 2016, human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda, and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were kidnapped and murdered by police officers in a gruesome and well-planned operation.
According to a confession statement read in court, the police officers, led by Administration Officer Fredrick Leliman, had been planning to execute the three men for several hours before the actual killings took place.
The court heard that Leliman had approached a former police informer, Peter Ngugi, and asked him to kidnap Mwenda on the day he was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing related to a shooting incident.
Ngugi met Leliman early in the morning and was instructed to take Mwenda and his lawyer, Kimani, to Mlolongo bus stage, where they were to take a matatu to Mavoko law courts.
However, the police officers had other plans. They stopped the matatu and told the three men they were under arrest. They were driven to the Syokimau AP post, where they were locked in a cell, while the officers converged at a bar nearby to discuss how to execute them.
As the officers imbibed drinks, an officer called them saying that one of the victims had managed to call his wife, informing her of the arrest. This surprised the officers because all the mobile phones belonging to the victims had been left in their vehicle.
The initial plan was to drive all the way to Meru, but the vehicle did not have enough fuel, and driving to a petrol station would be risky. Instead, Ngugi drove towards Limuru, where he abandoned the vehicle at Kwa Mbira area.
The victims were removed from the cells late in the evening and driven on Mombasa Road to a bushy area. They were handcuffed from the back.
Before the executions, the killers differed on what to do with them. Ngugi and another accused person, Leonard Mwangi, were of the view that they had been exposed and should set them free, but Leliman and another officer, Kamenju, disagreed and insisted on executing them.
They argued for about three hours until officers manning the Mlolongo weighbridge drove to the spot and asked them what they were doing. At around 10pm, the first victim was executed. According to the statement, it was Mwenda.
As the officers executed him using a rope and putting a plastic bag on his face, Ngugi was told to watch over the vehicle carrying the other victims. The second victim was executed around 11pm, and the third one was killed almost immediately.
After executing them, Kamenju said he knew of a good spot in Ol-Donyo Sabuk, where they would dispose of the bodies. They drove towards City Cabanas and took the Eastern by-pass towards Ruiru, in two vehicles.
The bodies were later thrown to Athi River in Ol-Donyo Sabuk, the killers having accomplished their mission. They drove back to Mlolongo where they resumed their drinking.
A postmortem report presented in court showed that the three victims had fractured skulls and injuries on their chests, necks, and faces.
