The long-awaited court verdict on the sentencing of four convicts involved in the murders of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Mwenda, and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri was delivered on Friday morning, more than six years after the crime.
During the sentencing, Justice Lessit noted the following seven aggravating elements that contributed to the court’s decision:
1. The murder was designed to impede the pursuit of justice.
2. The offense was committed as part of a group.
3. The deceased were held in the boot of a car and were pulled out one by one to be killed. According to the court, the murder was carried out near enough so that “the victims could hear the beating and blows being given, as well as the screams and yells of their colleagues as he was slain.” The fact that they each knew they would be the next to suffer the same death, according to Judge Lessit, must have caused them immense anxiety, tension, and psychological anguish while they awaited their time.
4. Crude weapons were employed to inflict great pain on the victims.
5. The victims were placed in gunny and plastic bags before being tossed into the river in order to conceal the murder and make retrieval of their bodies difficult.
6. The murder entailed the use of blatant and disproportionate violence on the dead, as well as harm to the people.
7. The first accused plainly had a vendetta towards the dead Mwenda. The judge recalled how he kidnapped and murdered Kimani and Muiruri, oblivious to their existence and the fact that they had done nothing to deserve what he had done to them.
