Lawyers, activists and Judiciary staff organised a Purple Ribbon Week to honour the life of the late Willy Kimani and other compatriots murdered in the line of duty.
During the event held at the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, June 21, friends and families also recalled similarly losing loved ones, highlighting the plight lawyers face on a daily basis.
One of those affected was Alfred Ngunjiri, the son of the late renowned lawyer, Anthony Nahashon Ngunjiri. The deceased, who represented President Mwai Kibaki in the 1997 Presidential Petition, was allegedly murdered by two police officers while serving court papers in a property case.
While recalling the incident that is still vividly etched in his memories, Alfred stated that their father bade them goodbye on September 21, 2011. What started like a normal day turned out to be one of the most painful ones, culminating in a decade of sorrow.
What pains him most is that the family has been seeking justice for over ten years and were yearning for closure.
“It has been 12 years since my dad took me to school in the morning, and in the evening, some corrupt officers and a rich man decided their greed was bigger than his life,” he tearfully narrated, unable to contain his sense of loss.
The happy moments, the highs, and the lows experienced throughout the decade did little to ease the pain of losing a father and a husband. Alfred lamented that the incident turned their lives topsy-turvy as their father was by then expecting a set of twins.
“He never got to see his last two children (twins),” he sympathised with his siblings while lamenting that the justice system shortchanged the family.
A grieving Alfred also accused the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) of failing to fulfil a promise it made to the family during the father’s funeral. While the wheels of justice continue to turn, albeit slowly, sometimes Alfred is disillusioned that his father’s death may never be avenged.
“Sometimes you hear about corruption in the court system and you do not know what to believe. Maybe one day we will have closure like the family of Willie Kimani,” he hoped.
The family of Willie Kimani held the memorial service for the lawyer at Milimani Ceremonial Hall hours before a three-judge bench officially closed his file.
Remembering her husband, Hannah Wanjiku Kimani, eulogised the love of his life as a lawyer who believed in fairness for all.
"He was a man who put a smile on people's faces. He was cheerful in life and believed in justice for the downtrodden in society," Wanjiku stated as she broke into tears, overwhelmed by the weight of the anguish she was bearing.
She was however, reminded that her husband will be remembered for years. At the time of his death, Kimani worked with the International Justice Mission (IJM), a global human rights group that documents police killings and brutality.
Kimani was murdered in June 2016 in the company of his client Josephat Mwendwa and their driver Joseph Muiruri. Justice Jessie Lesit sentenced the man suspect, former police officer Fredrick Leliman to death on February 3, 2023.
Two other police officers, Stephen Cheburet and Sylvia Wanjiku, and their civilian informant, Peter Ngugi, were sentenced to serve between 20 and 30 years.
The Purple Ribbon Week event was organised by the Law Society of Kenya (Nairobi Branch) in partnership with the International Justice Mission (IJM) and others. Running from June 21 to June 23, the event will honour advocates who lost their lives in the line of duty with a focus on Kimani’s death.
Among the attendees at the event were representatives of the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecution, Senior Counsels and Law Society of Kenya Members.
Earlier, the activists and lawyers held a peaceful walk from Supreme Court to Milimani Law Courts.
