A judge has recused herself from a case in which former Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officer Peter Mugure was accused of killing his wife.
According to a report by Daily Nation, Justice Florence Muchemi disclosed that she would no longer hear the case that has been active since June 2020.
In her statement, the judge explained that she stepped down on grounds that she handled another matter involving the suspect.
Mugure is accused of killing his wife Joyce Syombua, his daughter Shanice Maua and his son Prince Michael in October 2019. The three went missing after they visited him in Nanyuki.
Magure, who was stationed at the Laikipia Airbase, confessed that he picked the three from the bus station and took them home where they spent the night.
According to police reports the three remained at the airbase until the next day when they went to Kirimara Springs Hotel.
Later that night, Mugure met with Collins Pamba, a co-accused, at his house where the two carried the three bodies and buried them in a shallow grave in Kilimo area.
After a series of adjournments, the case resumed in April 2021 after Mugure dismissed his lawyers and sought to represent himself in the case.
The three lawyers included Cliff Ombeta, Kimani Njuguna and Kariuki Runo.
After his application, State counsel Duncan Ondimu cautioned the defendant that he should be aware of the consequences of self-representation in capital offense.
He further added the the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) was not opposed to his request.
“The applicant has a right to represent himself provided that he is warned of the dangers of self-representation in murder cases,” argued Ondimu.
