Former minister awarded Ksh.15M over sons murder

The High Court has awarded former Assistant Minister Patrick Muiruri Ksh.15 million as damages over the killing of his son by a police officer.

Mr James Muiruri was shot and killed by a police officer in January 2009 as he left a Nairobi club.

Former inspector Dickson Munene and businessman Alex Chepkonga were found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death in 2011 by Justice Muhamed Warsame.

However, Chepkonga was later acquitted after challenging the verdict at the Court of Appeal.

The court heard that Muiruri, who was in the company of two people got into a fight with five men which escalated fast and ended up with killing of the minister’s son.

“The deceased died as a result of a gunshot fired by a trigger happy police officer. In the circumstances an award for exemplary damages is necessary,” ruled Justice Joseph Sergon.

In his ruling, the court noted that the family of the deceased and the Attorney General entered into a consent on June 20, 2016 in which it was agreed that the state was wholly liable for the death of the deceased.

The state will now pay the family as follows;

Pain and suffering – Ksh.150,000

Loss of expectation of life – Ksh.200,000

Loss of dependency – Ksh.12 million

Special damages – Ksh.1.5 million

Exemplary damages – Ksh.2 million

Total – Ksh.15,857,730 million