The High Court has sentenced former policeman Fredrick Ole Leliman to death for killing lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri in 2016.

In her ruling, Jessie Lesiit said Sergeant Leliman engineered the gruesome murder of human rights lawyer Kimani, Mwenda and Muiruri involving meticulous planning and execution.

Similarly, police officers Sylvia Wanjiku and Stephen Cheburet were respectively sentenced to 24 and 30 years in prison for their involvement in the murder that shook the country.

At the same time, Justice Lesiit ruled that police informant Peter Ngugi be incarcerated for 20 years over the death.


The sentences were read out after Leliman, Wanjiku, Cheburet and Ngugi were convicted on July 22, 2022 for the murders that were executed on June 23, 2016.

The bodies of Kimani, Mwenda and Muiruri were found in sacks dumped in River Athi at Ol Donyo Sabuk area of Machakos County on July 1, 2016 a week after being reported missing.