In a long-awaited judicial outcome, the Milimani High Court has found four men guilty of the murder of former Kabete Member of Parliament George Muchai, ending an 11-year legal battle over the execution-style shooting that shocked the nation in 2015.
[In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, September 29, Justice Kanyi Kimondo convicted Eric Mungera Isabwa, Raphael Kimani Gachii, Mustafa Kimani Anyoni, and Stephen Astiva Lipopo on four counts of murder]. The four were found criminally liable for the killings of the late lawmaker, his two police bodyguards—Constables Samuel Kimathi Kailikia and Samuel Lekakeny Matanta—and his driver, Stephen Ituu Wambugu. The four victims were ambushed and shot dead along Kenyatta Avenue in the Nairobi Central Business District during the early morning hours of February 7, 2015.
“The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the four accused persons murdered former Kabete MP George Muchai, his two bodyguards, and his driver,” [Justice Kimondo held during the ruling].
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) secured the convictions after presenting testimony from 37 witnesses, including eye-witnesses and ballistic experts. Forensic evidence presented in court successfully linked a recovered G3 rifle—previously stolen from a police officer—to the spent cartridges found at the crime scene. The prosecution also established that the accused persons had engaged in a series of violent carjackings and armed robberies on the night of the attack.
Muchai, a veteran trade union leader who served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) prior to his election, was serving as the Member of Parliament for Kabete Constituency at the time of his death.
Following the guilty verdict, Justice Kimondo directed that the four convicts remain in custody pending formal mitigation pleas and sentencing reports scheduled for next month.