Three police officers – Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Cheburet and Sylvia Wanjiku – alongside a civilian, Peter Ngugi, were found guilty of killing Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda, and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri in a gruesome murder that shocked the country in 2016.

“They killed the victims in a painful death through a conspiracy that involved high levels of planning, sophisticated use of public resources and execution with the sole intention of the murder being to interfere with the cause of justice,” ruled Justice Jessie Lesiit.

The judge handed Leliman, the mastermind behind the murder, a death penalty, while Cheburet who was his main accomplice got a 30 year jail sentence. Wanjiku and Ngugi were sentenced to 24 and 20 years respectively.

Lawyers and human rights defenders stated that the decision was not only a new beginning in the fight to end extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the hands of security officers, but also to protect legal practitioners who risk their lives in the line of duty.

Eric Theuri, president of the Law Society of Kenya, stated that it is time for lawyers to remain vigilant as they take more action against police officers who take people’s lives at will.

“We will not tolerate attempts to prevent the cause of justice by killing and intimidating lawyers and other innocent people. The decision to punish the killers has awakened us to take further action against police officers involved in brutality and impunity,” said Theuri.

The International Justice Mission (IJM) county director, Benson Shamala, said it is encouraging that the judiciary had taken the right step in dealing with rogue police officers and bring hope to families who have lost their loved ones through extrajudicial killings.

According to Shamala, justice was finally served on a murder case that was well planned and could have remained unsolved were it not for efforts to bring the rogue police officers to account.

Houghton Irungu, the county director for Amnesty International and coordinator of Kenya’s Police Reforms Working Group, stated that the decision marked the end of tolerance of rogue police officers who violate human rights.

“What we want is for the attorney general and parliament to implement the Prevention against Torture Act, to criminalise extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances. We can use the opportunity to demand for justice for all who have been killed by police,” he said.

The families of the three victims expressed their satisfaction at the punishment meted out on the men and woman who killed their kin, stating that no other family should have to go through the pain they endured while waiting for justice.

Kimani, who at the time of his death was a human rights lawyer at IJM, was killed for representing his client who had made a report to the Independent Police Oversight Authority against the police officer who shot him. 

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