Justice Kanyi Kimondo has ruled that four of the seven accused in the 2015 fatal shooting of the ex-Kabete MP George Muchai and his three aides have a case to answer.
While making the ruling, a decade after the murders, Justice Kimondo also acquitted three others after the court found insufficient evidence.
The ruling followed a rigorous prosecution process where 37 witnesses were presented before the court, as well as a trove of other evidence presented by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Among the most damning of the evidence was the testimony of a taxi driver who placed one of the accused at the centre of the crime and produced a gun safety pin discovered in his vehicle, which was later confirmed as evidence.
The prosecution further presented evidence arguing that the killings were not random but premeditated, pointing to the accused persons’ use of dangerous weapons and the execution-style shootings as evidence of careful planning.
Autopsy reports compiled by government pathologist, Dr Johansen Oduor, also confirmed that all four victims died of close-range gunshot wounds from high-velocity firearms.
Although he determined the suspects had a case to answer in the murders, Justice Kimondo refrained from making findings on parallel robbery-with-violence charges pending before a Nairobi magistrate’s court.
Having established a strong prima facie against the four, their defence hearing has been set for October 22, 2025, where they will be required to respond to the weight of the prosecution evidence.
On February 7, 2015, Muchai was shot dead alongside his two police bodyguards, Constable Samuel Kimathi and Constable Samuel Lekakeny and his driver, Stephen Ituu Wambugu, along Kenyatta Avenue.
Muchai, who was still serving as the Kabete MP at the time, was returning from a family dinner when his vehicle was rammed by another car at a roundabout.
The armed assailants then emerged from the other car and opened fire, killing all four instantly. They then stole a briefcase and two pistols from Muchai's bodyguards. Muchai's family, who were travelling in a separate car, witnessed the incident.
Over the years, since 2025, the case has dragged on in the courts as the seven were charged separately for the robbery with violence case at a Magistrate's Court and the murder case at the High Court.
The tactic has been subject to several court arguments and rulings, with the suspects successfully halting a judgment in the robbery case in October 2024. They argued that the charge of "robbery with violence" had been declared unconstitutional by a 2016 court ruling.
